
Class ! A 504- 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL 

SUPPORT IN COLONIAL 

MASSACHUSETTS 



BY 



George Leroy Jackson, Ph. D. 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, NO. 25 



PUBLISHED BY 

QJrarijprB OJnlUgr, (Columbia 3ImvrrsitQ 

NEW YORK CITY 
1909 



Copyright 1909 by George Leroy Jackson 



Pbess of 

bbandow pbinting company 

albany, n. y. 



2 IU09 

Co»yn«nt Entry _ 

OLA** A ' 

2. 9jP37* 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Introduction page 

The problem set. — Essential to the study to enquire into (i) 
religious and educational ideals, (2) the evolution of poor relief 
and its educational implications, (3) social and political conditions 
in the early colony. — The close relationship between education and 
Puritanism shown. — Connection between the church and the sup- 
port of the poor. — Connection between the support of the poor and 
free industrial education. — The Massachusetts Act of 1642 embodied 
the essentials of the Elizabethan Poor Laws. — Motive underlying 
the founding of a Massachusetts town as shown in the Dedham 
Records. — Colonial policies dictated by church-members and the 
educational inference. — Town policies dictated by all the townsmen 
therefore a variation in methods of school support 5 

CHAPTER II 

School Support by Contribution 

Close relationship between the church and the school as shown 
by Governor Craddock's letter to Endicott, and by the Acts of 1642 
and 1647. — Mention of schools comes some years after the settlement 
of the town. — The probability of the existence of schools during 
this period well founded. — General social and religious conditions 
of the time not suitable for existence of private schools. — The church- 
town school the logical institution hence the method of church 
support is pertinent to a study of school support. — Church support 
passed through three stages — voluntary, and compulsory contribu- 
tion, and general taxation. — Earliest methods of school support also 
by voluntary, and compulsory contribution as indicated by town 
records and Winthrop's History of New England 15 

CHAPTER III 

Free Education for the Poor 

The colonists were familiar with the method of poor relief in 
England. — Single evidence of the presence of the contribution 
stage. — No evidence of compulsory contributions. — The Act of 1642 
compared with the English Poor Law. — Recorded instances of 1) 
apprenticeship and 2) examination of children's ability to read. — 
First school rate levied in Salem for the tuition of poor children. — 
Other instances of town action with respect to the free education of 
poor children. — Act of 1642 embodies provision for the first system 
of free education at the expense of the public 23 



4 Contents 

CHAPTER IV 

Records of Town Action With Respect to School Support 

page 
Meaning of " rate." — Its reduplication. — How paid. — The various 
rates commonly levied in the town. — Sources of school support. — 
School rates levied on property were of two kinds. — Tuition rates 
also of two kinds. — Town records on matters of school support. ... 34 

CHAPTER V 

School Support by General Taxation 

A synthesis of preceding chapters with respect to method of sup- 
port, — The Act of 1647. — Made schools compulsory and a civil 
rather than a church institution. — In the matter of support, two 
interpretations of the Act may be made. — The usual method was a 
combination. — General decline of interest in education during the 
last quarter of the 17th century. — due to different religious atmos- 
phere, costly military expeditions, remote settlers who could have 
no benefit from the town school. — Details traced in Haverhill, 
Maiden, Plymouth, and Watertown. — Tuition and supply no longer 
adequate to support the school. — The moving and the divided school 
sprang from these conditions. — Dependent for support upon giving 
the opportunity to all to participate in its benefits 75 

CHAPTER VI 

The " Free School " 

Leach's discussion of the meaning of the " free school " in Eng- 
land. — Concludes that it refers to freedom from payment for being 
taught. — Interpretations given to colonial use of the term by Bar- 
nard, Bush, and Brown. — Records from 14 towns showing the use of 
the term " free school." — The three above interpretations refuted. — 
The colonial use of the term was the same as given by Leach for the 
English usage. — Conclusion 84 



CHAPTER I 
Introduction 

The aim of this study is, first, to trace the various methods 
through which the early schools of Massachusetts were sup- 
ported — showing at the same time the basis of experience for 
dealing with the problem of support through the close relation- 
ship existing between — i) education and religion, and 2) educa- 
tion and the support and apprenticeship of the poor; and, sec- 
ond, after partial support by general taxation had become cus- 
tomary, to point out the main causes which made general taxa- 
tion the sole method of school support and hence gave rise to 
the " free school " — publicly controlled and publicly supported. 

The men who managed affairs in the early Massachusetts 
towns were beyond question influenced by the methods and ideals 
which prevailed in the mother country. We know that in Eng- 
land there was a close relationship in Puritan thought between 
education and religion, hence there would be a definite tendency 
to continue the same relationship in the colony. The mere inci- 
dent of a sea-voyage would scarcely destroy all associations 
formed up to that time. We know that for years the English 
people had been working out the problem of poor relief and dur- 
ing the life of the colonists in England had arrived at a definite 
method of caring for the poor, hence it is highly improbable 
that, when the necessity arose, this method should not occur to 
the colonists as a possible way of solving a similar difficulty. In 
other words there can be no doubt that what these men had 
thought and done in England was the basis of their thinking and 
doing in the Massachusetts Colony. Hence in meeting the prac- 
tical problem of supporting any institution we would expect them 
to use the prevailing English method, or a modification of that 
method, or the application for the support of one institution of 
the prevailing or modified English method of supporting another. 

In the matter of school support, as we shall see later, the 
English methods were not suited to the social and economic 
conditions of the early colony. Some other method had to be 
found and we know that the present method, general taxation, 
was not the first. Under these circumstances we would expect 



6 Introduction 

the early solution of the problem to be influenced by the methods 
used in meeting other charges of a public nature, especially by 
the methods used in supporting those public charges closely con- 
nected with the school. For this reason it has seemed best, since 
the records with respect to the early schools are so few, to show 
the development of church and poor support in the Colony. If 
we find distinct methods of meeting the charges incident to the 
maintenance of the church, and of the poor — including the ap- 
prenticeship of poor children — and if here and there we find a 
record showing that a school was maintained through a similar 
method, we have as conclusive proof as may be of the method 
or methods through which schools were maintained during the 
early period. Expressed in somewhat graphic form by represent- 
ing well defined methods by heavy lines and the less well defined 
by dots the general argument from relationship and suggestion 
is as indicated : 

support of poor in England. 

support of the church in Mass. 

• ■ • — • • — support of the school in Mass. 

It is essential by way of introduction to our study to make a 
more detailed analysis of those phases of experience which are 
pertinent to the furtherance of its aim ; ( i ) to enquire somewhat 
into the ideals which were fundamental to the Puritan religion 
and the relation of such ideals to the necessity of education; (2) 
to enquire into the methods of poor support in England since 
for centuries there had been a close relationship between the 
church, the poor, and the education of youth; (3) to state a 
few pertinent facts with respect to civil and social conditions in 
the early settlements. These topics form no part of our investi- 
gation but serve to put us in touch with the general conditions 
necessary to give the social and historical setting of the problem. 

1. The fundamental principle of the Renaissance and its north- 
ern aspect, the Reformation, was the firm conviction that liberty 
and reason lay at the basis of individuality and that individual 
achievement was most worth while. In the South, a civilization 
of pagan origin which during the pagan period produced some 
of the world's best thoughts and artistic products naturally turned 
to those great masterpieces for uplift and guidance ; in the North, 
a people who before Christianity had produced nothing, by the 



Introduction 7 

same natural process turned to the Bible and the patristic writ- 
ings, the sources from which the Northern civilization had 
sprung. In either case it was the Era of the New Learning, 
an eager searching after Truth in the manuscript and the printed 
page and, in the North especially, a dependence upon the author- 
ity of the Bible which was as great as had been the previous 
sway of Aristotle. But though the Scriptures were the great 
authority the spirit of the Reformation demanded that this au- 
thority be individually declared — not by priest or pope to the 
unthinking and receptive masses but by the best interpretation 
of its commands and precepts which the individual might be 
able to make for himself. Liberty and reason were the basis for 
a new relationship between God and man. 

This startling innovation in method of thought and action was 
soon modified. It was too anarchistic to allow men to live to- 
gether in any degree of harmony ; too opposed to the natural 
instinct to form like-minded groups. And so, consciously or 
unconsciously, men took from the Bible that which best suited 
their ideas and dispositions — creeds began to fetter the free ex- 
ercise of thought and narrowness and intolerance were rampant. 
Learning became narrower in scope and purpose, yet learning 
was necessary to compass even this faint remnant of the Reforma- 
tion ideal. Whatever remained of liberty and reason seems to 
have been transferred from the individual to the group and it 
fought as valiantly and persistently for its as did ever Luther 
for his tenets. 

The point here to be emphasized is, that however false men 
have proved to be at times to the Reformation ideal it has always 
demanded at its best an enlightened people and an educated 
clergy. The Bible was put into the hands of the people to be 
for each one an individual guide and help and at least an educa- 
tion sufficient to read and understand it was a necessary corollary. 
That such was the case is evidenced by the school systems estab- 
lished in Saxony, Wurtenberg, Gotha and other German States 
under the influence of the Reformation movement. The root 
idea being to give reading, writing, and singing to all, with higher 
schools to act as selective agents for the State and ministry. By 
means of education Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon, Duke Ernest 
and many others hoped to reform well nigh unendurable condi- 



8 Introduction 

tions and raise the general moral plane of mankind to a higher 
level through educated leadership of a reading, thinking people. 

It was against dogmatism, authority, form, pretence that 
Puritanism and its sister movements Pietism and Jansenism arose. 
Conduct, faith, piety, righteousness, and good works, the holding 
up of high individual standards marked this movement and made 
its followers stand out distinctly. The religious tenets of the 
Puritans believed to have been ably and faithfully worked out 
of the Scriptures, at first carried out the best traditions of the 
Reformation in the general ideas expressed above ; that they soon 
became narrow and intolerant is but the fault of the age. The 
fact that they believed themselves to be God's elect as proved 
by the Bible, that their way of thinking and doing must therefore 
be the only possible escape from punishment and the way whereby 
mankind might be saved made them the stronger and more per- 
sistent in their ideas when they were met by opposition and perse- 
cution. The Puritan was one with the Reformation in his belief 
in his power to draw inspiration from God, to have direct per- 
sonal communion between each human being and his Maker, and 
to find in the Bible, each man for himself, the guiding principles 
of all his thoughts and acts. 

Nothing could be stronger than the Puritan belief in the Bible. 
The Westminster Confession which the Puritan accepted teaches 
that all things necessary for man's salvation are found in the 
Scriptures ; that they were immediately inspired by God and con- 
tain within themselves the infallible rule of interpretation; and 
that they commanded all the people of God to read and search 
them. 1 Unquestionably the Bible and the capacity to read it was 
an essential part of Puritan society derived from the general 
Reformation movement. They did not wish a blind acceptance 
of their faith but that each should read for himself and embrace 
the Creed through conviction of the righteousness of their faith. 
Such conviction was possible only to those who could read a 
Bible whose authenticity was vouched for by a still higher schol- 
arship. They were God's elect, but to deserve His protection 
each one must read, ponder over the Scriptures and the explana- 
tion by the minister in order to know His will. 



1 Westminster Confession, Chap. I., Section VI., VII., IX., VIII. 



Introduction 9 

Unquestionably the spirit of Puritanism demanded that religion 
and education go hand in hand. The following quotations from 
De Montmorency's " State Intervention in English Education " 
bear directly upon this point : 

"In 1 561 Knox and the early reformers added to the First Book of 
Discipline certain regulations about schools and colleges, which if they 
had been carried into effect would have given us before now an almost 
perfect system of education. Knox proposed that the entire revenues 
of the old Church should be devoted to the maintenance of schools, of 
ministers, and of the infirm poor." 2 

Though a little later than the settlement of Massachusetts the 
Welsh Education Act of 1649 was worked out by men of the 
same generation and religious faith and hence may be introduced 
as pertinent to our discussion: 

"The Parliament of England taking into their serious consideration 
the great Duty and Trust that lies on them to use all lawful ways and 
means for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this Common- 
wealth, in order thereunto, Do Enact and Ordain, and be it Enacted 
and Ordained by this present Parliament, and by the Authority thereof, 
That ( ) are hereby constituted and appointed to be Com- 
missioners in ( ) . . . . That they the said Commissioners or 

any five or more of them, shall have full power and authority, and are 
hereby enabled and authorized to receive all articles or charges which 
shall be exhibited against any Parson, Vicar, Curate, Schoolmaster, or 
any other now having, or that shall have any Ecclesiastical benefit or 
promotion within the said counties or any of them " 3 

It is clear that in the eyes of the Puritan Commonwealth a 
schoolmastership was regarded as an appointment that ranked 
with a benefice. 

This same Puritan spirit caused the Scottish Parliament in 
1633 to empower the Bishop, with the consent of the major part 
of the tax-payers to enforce a rate on land for the benefit of 
the school. 4 

All that has been said on this topic is a matter of common 
knowledge but, as has been previously said, it seems best to 
bring these points together that we may have a clear conception 
of the main religious ideas and motives — experience stuff — which 
was a part of the mental outfit of the New England Puritan. It 



2 De Montmorency, State Intervention in English Education, 116-117. 

3 Ibid. 101. 

4 Ibid. 119. 



io Introduction 

has also seemed legitimate for the purposes of this study to 
indicate the general results of these same religious ideas and 
motives as they worked themselves out with reference to church 
and school in Scotland and Wales. And so before turning to 
the next topic, the development of the support of the poor in 
England, let us bring together by way of summary the general 
aims of the Puritan faith wherever found. Briefly they are: 
Individual responsibility to God ; the Bible the guide to conduct ; 
the ability to read ; and the consequent close relationship between 
religion and education./ 

2. The last stage ill the development of the support of the 
poor in England — that is, general taxation, was completed during 
the years of the early colonists' residence in the mother country 
and was, therefore, a highly pertinent factor in the general mass 
of experience which might be brought to bear on any question 
of support. The poor law of England was of importance also 
from another point of view since its essential features were in- 
corporated in the Massachusetts law of 1642 which made educa- 
tion compulsory for all and formed the basis for free instruction 
for poor children. 

Previous to the confiscation of monastic and guild property 
by Henry VIII. there had been no legislation with respect to the 
poor and their support. In the cities, the guilds had taken care 
of their members when sick or disabled, had pensioned the 
widows, and paid the apprentice fees of the children; in the 
country districts the monasteries had played a similar role for 
the support of the poor. With the confiscation of these sources 
of supply for relief, legislation begins. The first of importance 
is 5 & 6 Edward VI. cap. 2. It directs the collectors " to gently 
ask and demand of every man and woman what they of their 
charity will give weekly towards relief of the poor." 

In 5 Elizabeth cap. 3, the following addition seems to have 
been necessary : " That if any person of his froward or wilful 
mind shall obstinately refuse to give wekly to the relief of the 
poor according to his ability " the justices may tax such persons 
according to their discretion. The method was round-about and 
not completely given here but it established the principle that 
property be held subject to the relief of the destitute. 

14 Elizabeth, cap. 5 directs the justices to tax the inhabitants 
and appoint persons to collect the amount levied. This Act 



Introduction 1 1 

differs from the preceding in that it went direct to its object 
and provided the requisite machinery for collection and distri- 
bution. 

Turning now to the apprentice features of the LawSi It was 
enacted by 27 Henry VIII. cap. 25 that all children between five 
and thirteen who were begging or in idleness might be appointed 
to masters in husbandry or other craft. 16 Elizabeth cap. 3 or- 
dered the justices to provide a stock of wood, hemp, flax, iron, and 
other stuff by taxation in order that poor youth might be trained 
up in labor and work. 39 Elizabeth cap: 3 gave the overseers" 
of the poor with the consent of two justices the power to " set 
to work the children of all such whose parents shall not be 
thought able to keep and maintain them." They were also em- 
powered to raise by taxation an amount sufficient to pay the 
apprenticeship fees of such children. 

All the foregoing laws are summed up in 43 Elizabeth cap. 2 
(1601) in which the first section provides that overseers of the 
poor shall be annually nominated for each parish by the justices. 
To these are added the churchwardens and from two to four 
substantial householders according to the size of the parish. 
Their duty is — 

(1) To take measures, with the consent of two justices, for 
setting to work children whose parents are unable to maintain 
them ; 

(2) To raise weekly by taxation of every inhabitant and occu- 
pier, such sums as they shall think fit — 

(a) For obtaining a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, and 
other necessaries for the poor to work upon; 

(b) For putting out poor children as apprentices. 

The particular facts which we are to keep in mind with respect 
to the development of poor support, since they are pertinent 
to our further discussion, are, that it passed through three definite 
stages, (1) the period of voluntary contribution, (2) the period 
of compulsory contribution, and (3) the period of general taxa- 
tion ; that the apprenticeship law was purely industrial in char- 
acter, that all necessary charges were met by taxation, and that 
properly constituted authorities had the power to apprentice chil- 
dren and youths; and that this Law of Elizabeth was transferred 
in all its essential details to the colonial Law of 1642 which made 
education compulsory for all and free to poor children. 



12 Introduction 

3. The transfer of the government from England to the Colony 
itself in 1629, coupled with the idea of making New England 
a refuge for the Puritan believers and a proper place to found 
a Biblical Commonwealth was the signal for a general movement 
to the New World. Before Christmas of that year more than 
1,000 colonists had landed on the New England coast. The 
ministers who emigrated were men of standing and influence. 
Among the laity were many graduates of Cambridge and many 
who were well versed in public affairs. By far the great majority 
were men of purpose and character and the influence of these 
men must always be kept in the foreground in a discussion of 
the shaping of the early policies of the Colony. 

The Company as a trading corporation held title to all the 
land within its grants and it, through the General Court, granted 
land to each of the stockholders and larger tracts to a number 
of individuals in common on condition that they establish a town 
and a church. These individuals became the proprietors and in 
turn granted home lots, farms, and rights of common to such 
applicants as they saw fit to admit to their number. As an 
example of the origin of a town let us examine the method pur- 
sued at Dedham which is typical of any one of the other towns 
of the Colony. 

The first step was a petition to the Court, in which a certain 
tract of land was mentioned, that the petitioners might " haue 
and enjoye all those Lands Meadows, Woods and other grounds, 
together with all the Waters and other benifits what so euer now 
being or that may be within the Compass of the afore said limits 
to vs with our ascociates and our assignes for euer." 5 

All newcomers as they were voted into the minor corporation 
received assignments of land, married men being given home lots 
of twelve acres ; if not married, they were given eight acres each. 
All such persons were first, however, required to sign the town 
covenant which shows the spirit of the undertaking so well that 
it will be given entire : 

"1 We whose names ar here vnto subscribed, doe. in the feare and 
Reuerence of our Allmightie God, Mutually : and seuerally pmise amongst 
our seules and each to other to pffese and practice one trueth according 
to that most pfect rule, the foundacion where of is Euerlasting Loue : 

' ' 2 That we shall by all meanes Laboure to keepe of from vs all such 
as ar contrarye minded. And receaue onely such vnto vs as be such 

s Dedham Records, Vol. III., I. 



Introduction 13 

as may be pbably of one harte, with vs as that we either knowe or may 
well and truely be informed to walke in a peaceable conuersation with 
all meekness of spirit for the edification of each other in the knowledge 
and faith of the Lord Jesus : And the mutuall encouragmt vnto all Tempor- 
all comforts in all things: seekeing the good of each other out of all which 
may be deriued true Peace 

"3 That if at any time difference shall arise betwene pties of our 
said Tovvne. that then such ptie and pties shall prsently Referre all 
such difference vnto som one. 2 or. 3 others of our said societie to be 
fully accorded and determined without any firther delaye if it possibly 
may bee: 

"4 That euery man that now, or at any time heereafter shall haue 
Lotts in our said Towne shall paye bis share in all such rates of money 
and charges as shall be imposed vpon him Rateably on pportion with 
other men As allso become freely subject vnto all such orders and consti- 
tutions as shall be necessariely had or made now or at any time heere 
after from this daye fore warde as well for Loveing and comfortable 
societie in our said Towne as allso for the psperous and thriueing Con- 
dicion of our said Fellowshipe especially respecting the feare of God in 
which we desire to begine and continue what so euer we shall by his 
Loveing fauoure take in hand." 6 

In passing it will be well to notice the main characteristics 
which mark the settlement of this town — the deeply religious 
motive, the desire to build up a homogeneous community, the 
spirit of mutual helpfulness in both spiritual and temporal affairs, 
and the paying of whatever rates that might be imposed for 
the well-being of the community. It may be safely held that 
these motives underlay the founding of all the early New Eng- 
land towns. 

At first it was thought that all the business of the " Country " 
might be transacted by the freemen meeting in a body four times 
a year but so many applied for the privilege of the franchise that 
this method was found impossible. The very number applying 
alarmed the Court and made it fear for the future of the under- 
taking, therefore it added to the freeman's oath the further quali- 
fication : 

"To the end the body of the commons may be preserved of honest and 
good men, it was likewise ordered and agreed, that for the time to come 
no man shall be admitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such as 
are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." 7 

This measure effectually secured the result wished for, namely, 
that all laws of the Commonwealth be made by men of the Puri- 

B Dedham Records, III. 2-3. 
7 Mass. Col. Rec. I., 87. 



14 Introduction 

tan faith and the Congregational Church since none but freemen 
of the towns could vote in the election of deputies. So we may 
be certain that all laws made by the General Court and enforced 
on all the colonists were in keeping with Puritan ideals. 

In the towns, with respect to local affairs, the franchise seems 
not to have been so restricted and there is every probability that 
whatever ordinances were passed or rates levied represented the 
majority opinion of the townsmen and rate-payers, although many 
were not members of the Church and thus not entitled to the 
general franchise. In 1647 the right of suffrage was legally 
extended to the townsmen but in answer to a petition from 
Ipswich in 1658 the Court held that freemen of the town might 
restrict such townsmen for cause from exercising this right. 8 
This left the directing force in the hands of the freemen as 
before though I find no evidence of such power having been used. 

In a cursory way the following points have been indicated and 
they are to be especially borne in mind when considering the 
early period since during that time recorded actions concerning 
schools are very few: (1) The general intelligence of all the 
early colonists and the importance to the settlements of the large 
number of college men who as ministers and leaders were so 
influential in counseling and guiding new endeavors and policies 
as well as keeping up the best traditions of English Puritanism ; 
(2) the deep religious and moral convictions fundamental to 
all their acts; (3) the spirit of co-operation and helpfulness; (4) 
the general participation of the townsmen in all that pertained 
to local government, and the consequent adaptation of general 
policies to local needs and ideas. 

Under the three preceding heads we have attempted to give 
a formulation of well known facts, ideals, and tendencies which 
entered into the experience and formed the character of the 
early New England Puritan. All this he brought with him and 
this mass of experience formed the basis of every working hypo- 
thesis which was made toward the solution of new problems of 
state, church, or school to which the exigencies of a new environ- 
ment gave rise. Connected experiences of the Old still remained 
connected in the New World and in the immediate study of the 
problem, especially during the early period, to which we now 
turn we are to keep this fact in mind. 

8 Mass. Col. Rec. IV., 335. 



CHAPTER II 
School Support by Contribution 

We now propose to discuss the relation between religion and 
education in the early history of the Massachusetts towns in 
order to form some basis of judgment as to the existence or 
non-existence of schools during the early period in which the 
town made few, if any, records of a school; also to take up the 
methods of church support since, as we shall find that the church 
and the school are closely affiliated, the development of the one 
will aid in the explanation of the development of the other. 
This is especially desirable for during the early period, as we 
have mentioned above, records concerning the schools are not 
sufficient in themselves to establish clearly the general methods 
of support. 

Matthew Craddock, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay 
Company, in 1629, wrote as follows to John Endicott, the deputy 
governor of the Colony: 

"We are very Confident of yor best endevors for the genrall gooi, 
& wee doubt not but God will in mrcye give a blessinge vpon our laboures, 
& wee trust you will not be vnmindfull of the mayne end of our plantacon 
by Indevoringe to bringe ye Indians to the knowledge of the gospell; 
wch yt it maye be speedier & better effected, ye earnest desire of our 
whole Compa is yt you have dilligent & watchfull Eye on our owne 
people, that they live unblemished & without reproofe, & demeane 
themselves justlye & Curteous towards ye Indians, thereby to drawe 
them to affect our prsons and consequently our religion, as alsoe to en- 
deavore to gett some of theire Children to trayne up to readinge & Con- 
sequently to Religion, whilest they are younge." 

In the Act of 1642 which dealt with the general educational 
condition of the Colony, we find that the men chosen to look 
after the town affairs " shall have power to take account from 
time to time of their children, concerning their calling and em- 
ployment of their children, especially of their ability to read and 
understand the principles of religion * * * and to impose 
fines on all them who refuse to render such accounts to them 
when required." 2 

1 Mass. Col. Rec, I., 384. 

2 Mass. Col. Records, II., 8-9. 



X 



1 6 School Support by Contribution 

In 1647 the Court enacted as follows: 

"It being one chief point of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from 
the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times, by keeping them in 
an unknown tongue so in these latter times, by persuading from the use 
of tongues, that so at last the true sense and meaning of the original 
might be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers, that learning 
might not be buried in the grave of our fathers in church and common- 
wealth, the Lord assisting our endeavers." 3 

It was then ordered that a grammar school be set up in every 
town that numbered fifty or more householders. In 1652 the 
Court made the following recommendation: 

"If it should be granted that learning, namely, skill in the tongues 
and liberal arts, is not absolutely necessary for the being of a common- 
wealth and churches, yet we conceive that the judgment of the godly 
wise it is beyond all question, not only laudable, but necessary for the 
being of the same." 4 

It was then recommended by the Court that a voluntary sub- 
scription be taken up in each town for the maintenance of the 
president, fellows, and poor scholars of Harvard College. 

In August, 1645, the inhabitants of Roxbury " in consideration 
of their religious care of posterity " having taken thought " how 
necessary the education of their children in literature will be 
to fit them for the public service both in church and common- 
wealth " unanimously agreed to erect a free school and to allow 
20 pounds per annum to the schoolmaster to be raised out of 
the properties given by certain inhabitants of the town. 5 

These references show the close relationship between the 
church and the necessity of education so clearly that it is un- 
necessary to multiply instances — in fact there is no evidence to 
the contrary to be found. Nothing could be more conclusive 
than the enactments of the General Court which expressed the 
opinion of the inhabitants and in these we always get the idea 
that education was the natural complement of religion. 

Now ten of the towns included within this study were settled 
previous to 1647 — the year when schools were made compulsory 
and, as civil units, put under the control of the towns. Six of 
these towns, according to the records, had schools before this 



3 Ibid. 203. 

*Ibid. IV., Pt. 1, 100-1. 

6 Dillway: A history of the Rox. Grammar School, 7-9. 



School Support by Contribution 17 

date. The distribution of years intervening between settlement 
and record of a school being 4, 6, 6, 7, 9, 11 — average 7. There 
is no mention of schools in the other four towns until after 
1647; the number of years between settlement and recorded 
school being 16, 20, 34, 41, — average 27. Of this same group 
the number of years between 1647 and first record of school is 
21, 14, 30, 3 — average 17. Though there is no record of schools 
during the time indicated by the last distribution series we know 
that there must have been a compliance with the law or else the 
town would have been presented for want of a school but no 
evidence of such presentment — though we find many later in the 
century 6 — appears so far as the minutes of the town are con- 
cerned. Hence the absence of records does not mean that there 
were necessarily no schools. To the towns included in the first 
we may add the time intervening between settlement and 1647 
of the four towns in the last distribution making the entire series 
2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9, 11, 11, 13, 17. Dropping the first figure, as it 
indicates a settlement of but two years, the average time inter- 
vening between the settlement of the town and the records of a 
school, or before schools were made compulsory, is 10.5 years. 
Does it seem probable that there were no schools during this 
time? Is it not clear from all the previous discussion that the 
Puritan religion demanded schools ? We have already shown that 
absence of records concerning school matters does not mean 
absence of schools and the last word on the question is, that 
though actual demonstration is not possible all inference favors 
the hypothesis that schools existed earlier than the records 
indicate. 

Granted that schools were in existence during this period, the 
question arises : Were they private schools or were they con- 
nected with the church as representing the sentiment of the 
town? Here again we must depend upon indirect evidence in 
the solution of the question. It would be unsafe to hold that 
there were no private schools during this period when the records 
are silent for the colonists were familiar with both the private 
and the chartered schools of England. But were the social and 
religious conditions favorable to the general establishment of such 
a type of school? The Puritan religion demanded that all chil- 

6 Dedham Records IV., 221, 214. Duxbury Records p. 206. Corey, 
Maiden Records p. 601-605. 



1 8 School Support by Contribution 

dren be educated. We know that on account of poverty many 
could not receive such education if there were only a private 
school in the town and if any payment had been made by the 
town to such a master for the tuition of poor children, it would 
have been made a matter of record as will be seen later in the 
study. Then, again, the colonists were highly homogenous and 
the private school flourishes best in a mixed and individualistic 
society. Logically, a school connected with the church to which 
all the inhabitants belonged is the one which best fits the condi- 
tions mentioned; such a school under church organization is in 
harmony with the ideas of Knox and is also in keeping with the 
Welsh Education Act which we have previously quoted. 

Having reasonable grounds to believe that schools did not 
begin with the first recorded instance and that there was a close 
relationship between these early schools and the church organiza- 
tion, let us now turn to the question of church support since 
with this close affiliation between the church and the early school 
we may expect a similarity between their methods of support. 

The method which received the earliest sanction of the Church 
was that of the voluntary contribution. One of the earliest refer- 
ences on this point bears the date of 1633 : "After much delibera- 
tion and serious advice, the Lord directed the teacher, Mr. Cot- 
ton, to make it clear by the Scripture, that the minister's mainte- 
nance, as well as all other charges of the church, should be de- 
frayed out of a stock or treasury, which was to be raised out 
of the weekly contribution, which was accordingly agreed upon." 7 
This method, being based more on what men ought to do rather 
than on what men will do was probably found inadequate in 
many cases. We find that after the synod held in 1637 Gov. 
Winthrop proposed " whether, as the churches were not of one 
mind on the subject of maintaining their ministers, this matter 
should not now be settled " but the elders declined acting on 
it. 8 In the same year the Court addressed each church as fol- 
lows : " To the elders and brethren of the church at . 

Whereas complaint hath been made to this court, that a different 
course is holden in the churches for raising a treasury for main- 
tenance of ministers, and whereupon some ministers are not so 
comfortably provided as were fitting, it is desired that the several 

7 Felt, Ecclesiastical History of N. E., Vol. I., 173. 

8 Ibid. 319. 



School Support by Contribution 19 

-churches will speedily inquire hereinto, and if need be, to confer 
together about it, and send some to advise with this court at the 
next session thereof." 9 

The next year, 1638, the Court enacted as follows: 

"This Court taking into consideration the necessity of an equal con- 
tribution to all common charges in towns, and observing the chief occa- 
sion of the defect herein ariseth from hence, that many of those who are 
not freemen, nor church members, do take advantage to withdraw their 
help in such voluntary contributions as are in use. 

"It is therefore hereby declared, that every inhabitant in any town 
is liable to contribute to all charges, both in church and commonwealth 
whereof he doth, or may receive benefit: and withal it is also ordered, 
that every such inhabitant who shall not contribute proportionately 
to his ability with other freemen of the same town to all common charges 
as well for the upholding the ordinances of the churches as otherwise 
shall be compelled thereto by assessment and distress to be levied by 
the constable, or other officers of the town as in other cases." 10 

Though this gave the requisite power to the church, the idea 
that the church should be supported voluntarily and not through 
coercion was still powerful. This position, according to Win- 
throp, was maintained by Cotton in 1639. He holding that when 
congregations will not support their ministers, unless required 
by law, their piety is on the decline. As time went on, however, 
compulsion was used more and more until in 1657 but three 
churches in Massachusetts were being supported by voluntary 
contributions. 11 

The evolution of church support is clearly shown in the Rec- 
ords of Salem. At a general town meeting held in 1639: " There 
was a voluntarie towne contribution towards the maintenance of 
the ministry, quarterly to be paid." 

" The note thereof remaineth with the deacons." 12 

By 1657 the voluntary contribution as a method of support 
had proved insufficient and " it was voted and agreed by the 
towne : that they voluntary yeald themselves to be rated : by those 
whom they shall choose for the Rayseing of maintenance for the 
ministry: When need shall require." 13 There was evidently a 
feeling in the town similar to that expressed by Cotton with re- 

9 Ibid. 331. 

10 Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I., 240-241. 

11 Felt, Eccl. Hist, of N. E., Vol. II., 160. 

12 Salem Rec, 93. 

13 Ibid. 197. 



20 School Support by Contribution 

spect to compulsion and two weeks after the above resolution 
was passed the town " agreed that the Elders mayntenance shalbe 
Indeaured to be raised by subscribcon." 14 The result of this 
endeavor is shown by the following Act passed two months later : 
" Its ordered that all those psons that will not subscribe nor 
Contribute towards the Mayntenance of the ministry shalbe rated 
& the selectmen to rate ym." 15 This represents a transition stage 
in church support. Part of the town contributed voluntarily 
from a sense of religious duty; the remainder of the inhabitants 
contributed under compulsion or else was rated according to 
property valuation. 

The last stage was reached in 1659 when it was " ordered that 
those sumes for the ministry shall be Raised vppon the town by 
way of Rate." 16 

In the majority of the towns studied there is no mention of 
church support until the method of general taxation is enforced. 
For example, the first record of ministerial support in Dor- 
chester occurs in 1652; Watertown, 1648; Springfield, 1645; 
Dedham, 1666. It would scarcely be held, however, that there 
were no churches in the towns up to the time of recorded sup- 
port. The records show that ministers were employed but the 
town as a civil unit was not as yet concerned with the minister's 
salary, hence there was no reason why town records should have 
been made. 

From the foregoing we gather the following facts. The first 
method of church support in New England was by the volun- 
tary contribution, each according to his ability. This soon 
proved unsatisfactory and in some places the ministers were in 
need. The Court asked for advice and later passed an Act 
compelling all to contribute in proportion to ability to pay if a 
satisfactory amount was not voluntarily given. This is the sec- 
ond method, namely, compulsory contribution. The current 
having set in that direction, the transition to direct taxation of all 
the inhabitants, the third method, was a comparatively easy step. 

The recorded actions of the towns on the matter of school 
support during the early period are very few and taken by 
themselves would not be very conclusive. We have shown, 

14 Ibid. 210. 

15 Ibid. 215. 
"Ibid. 224. 



School Support by Contribution 21 

however, the logical probabilities of schools during this period 
and of their close connection with the church. Under these con- 
ditions the evolution of church support furnishes a basis of inter- 
pretation, a something which fills in and supplements the little 
evidence which we have with respect to the schools. 

Boston in 1636 had a free school maintained by the voluntary 
contributions of forty-five of its richer inhabitants. 

In the Annals of Salem, Felt states that the first schoolmaster 
" besides teaching assisted Mr. Peters in the pulpit, and so con- 
tinued over two years." Nothing is said with respect to method 
of payment but as he was connected with the church and it at 
that time was supported by voluntary contributions the general 
social situation would point towards the teacher's salary being 
raised by the same method. 

The inhabitants of Charlestown in 1636 passed the following 
resolution : " Mr. William Withrell was agreed with to keep a 
school for twelve moneth to begin the eighth of August and to 
have 40 pounds this year." 17 This was not a private school and 
was not supported by rate — public opinion was not yet ripe for 
such action as the general tenor of this study shows — hence it 
must have been supported by contribution or tuition. From the 
fact that tuition is not mentioned in this very direct and explicit 
statement and from the general social conditions during the early 
period it is quite probable that the subscription was used and in 
this case it would not be necessary to make the town action more 
detailed than it is. 

The inhabitants of Dedham in 1644 agreed to contribute pro- 
portionately for the support of a school. This was done volun- 
tarily but at the same time it was a compulsory measure since 
a fair amount would have been collected in case any of the in- 
habitants had refused to contribute and all must have felt the 
compelling force of the agreement. 

Winthrop in his History of New England, 1645, states the 
charges of the school at Boston were met yearly by contribution 
either paid voluntarily or by rate on such as refused, and that 
other towns provided maintenance in like manner. 18 

This concludes all the available evidence on the period preced- 
ing the Act of '47 and so much of it as we have points to a 

17 Frothingham, History of Charlestown, 65. 

18 See Boston Records, Chap. IV. 



22 School Support by Contribution 

period of voluntary contribution followed by a period of compul- 
sory contribution. The evolution of church support which we 
have already traced lends the weight of corroborative evidence 
to the truth of the deduction. It is of course possible that in 
some towns the school which the town as such fostered was 
supported by tuition but the burden of proof is against such a 
statement. Tuition was no doubt charged in private schools 
but as a general method for the town school it logically came 
with the loss of communal spirit and the consequent growth of 
individualism. We must not think, however, of the schools that 
were supported by either voluntary or compulsory contributions 
as being free schools in our acceptance of the meaning of the 
term even though all children might attend free of charge. No 
pro rata tax was levied to support these schools on a definite 
evaluation of property. 



CHAPTER III 
Free Education for the Poor 

In a study of poor relief and apprenticeship in Massachusetts 
we shall find that there was a great similarity between the laws 
of England and local action in the towns. In fact the law of 
1642 was to all intents and purposes the apprenticeship law 
of Elizabeth (1601) 1 with the addition of an educational require- 
ment. There are numerous examples in the records of appren- 
ticeship fees being paid by the town and of a general oversight 
by the selectmen of those parents who apparently neglected or 
were unable to educate their children. As apprenticeship fees 
were paid by the town from a stock which was raised on all 
the inhabitants, so the town paid for the schooling of poor chil- 
dren by rate or exemption from tuition which in the last analysis 
was equivalent to a rate. Hence one factor in the support of 
a school by rate — the free school — is to be found in the Act 
of 1642. 

In a consideration of the support of the poor in Massachusetts 
we must bear in mind that the evolution had already been com- 
pleted in England by 1601 and that the early colonists were 
entirely familiar with the law and its methods. Yet the condi- 
tions peculiar to a new and undersettled country made such 
elaborate provisions as were customary in England quite unneces- 
sary. In many places the poor received allotments of land for 
cultivation and pasturage, certain wood-lots were set off for their 
use, and in the early years when the communal spirit was still 
strong it is more than probable that neighborly hands lightened 
the burdens of poverty in many instances. In the nature of the 
case the records of voluntary contributions with the exception of 
gifts of land and wood must be very few. I find however that 
in 1641 the usual method of the Salem church was to take up 
a contribution each Sabbath and the deacons used the money so 
contributed for the support of the ministry and the poor. 2 

That great care was taken to keep the number of the poor 
at the minimum is seen early in the history of the colony. In 

1 Chap. I., p. 11. 

2 Felt, Ecclesiastical Hist, of N. E., Vol. I., 433. 



24 Free Education for the Poor 

the second letter of instruction to Endicott in 1629 the follow- 
ing admonition is given: 

"Wee may not omitt, out of zeal for the general good once more to 
putt you in mynde to bee very circumspect, to settle some good orders 
whereby all persons resident upon our plantacions may apply themselves 
to one calling or other, and noe idle drones bee permitted to live amongst 
us, which, if you take care now at the first to establish, will be an undoubt- 
ed meanes, through Gods assistance to prevent a world of disaster and 
many grevious sins and sinners." 3 

Every town took care that no probable charge was admitted 
as an inhabitant and as an example of what may be found in 
any one of the town records I quote from Watertown : 

"Agreed that whosoever being an Inhabitant in the Towne shall receive 
any person, or family upon their property that may prove chargeable 
to the Town shall maintain the said persons at their own charges."* 

With such care exercised on the part of the towns in New 
England it seems probable that during the first few years the 
number of the poor was small and that the needy were helped 
through church contributions and charitable individuals. 

But as time went on neighborly hands were tied by their own 
necessities and though the law of 1638 gave the towns the right 
to compel subscriptions to all matters of public charge I can 
find no instance on record of the provisions of this law being 
applied to the support of the poor. It is quite possible that it 
may have been in numerous instances but considering the fact 
that the colonists were familiar with the methods employed in 
England it would seem the natural course to adopt general 
taxation either through grants from the town's stock or by 
special rate as soon as the burden of support began to bear at 
all heavily on the inhabitants. 

In 1639 the Court assumed the " power to determine all dif- 
ferences about the lawfull setling and provideing for poor per- 
sons " and " power to dispose of all unsetled persons into such 
towns as they shall judge most fitt for the maintenance of such 
persons and families and the most ease of the country." 5 Doubt- 
ful cases came up and the towns contested each case in a spirit 
far removed from charity. Consequently in 1645 a more definite 

3 Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I., 405. 
* Watertown Records, 1-2. 
6 Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I., 264. 



Free Education for the Poor 25 

law of settlement was called for and a commission chosen " to 
consider the la we for the setling of impotent aged persons, or 
vagrants, and either to rectifye it where it is defective, or drawe 
up a bill that may answer the expectation of each towne, and 
the whole countrye, that every towne may knowe what may be 
their owne burdens and prevent multiplying of peticions to this 
Courte hereabouts, and present their thoughts to this howse." 
No general order appears, however, until 1655 when complaint 
was made by several towns of great numbers pressing in without 
consent of the inhabitants and no laws to prevent it. Each town 
was authorized to refuse admission and every person brought 
into the town without consent of the selectmen should be main- 
tained by those who were the cause of their coming in and such 
person or persons were obliged to give security to the town. 7 

We have already shown that support of the poor in England 
passed through the voluntary and the compulsory contribution 
stages before its final outcome in general taxation and is impor- 
tant to our study as throwing additional secondary evidence on 
the question of school support during the hazy period preceding 
the year 1647. Previous to a well defined theory of the power 
and limits of taxation these seem to have been the necessary 
steps. With the elimination of the second step, compulsory con- 
tribution, there is evidence on every hand in our own time of 
this same process. Have not the great majority of our educa- 
tional and philanthropic innovations come about in the same way 
on the financial side? So in the case of poor support in Massa- "^Z 
chusetts all the evidence which we have indicates that relief first 
came through voluntary contribution on the part of the town, 
through the friendly disposed, and through the church contri- 
bution. There is no evidence of compulsory contribution nor 
is it to be expected. The right of the State to tax all the inhabi- 
tants for the support of the poor had been laid down in the 
mother country and the New Englander was familiar with the 
actual working out of the principle. When help for the needy 
became, therefore, a matter of moment, it was the natural thing 
to draw orders on the town treasury. 

Let us now turn to a comparison of the method of apprentice- 
ship. In the Massachusetts towns the first Act dealing with 

•Ibid. Vol. III., 15. 
7 Ibid. Vol. III., 376-7- 



26 Free Education for the Poor 

this topic was passed by the General Court in 1642 and is as 
follows : 

"Taking into consideration the great neglect in many parents and 
masters in training up their children in labor and learning and other 
employments which may be profitable to the Commonwealth, do here- 
upon order and decree that in every town the chosen men appointed 
for managing the prudential affairs of the same shall henceforth stand 
charged with the care of the redress of this evil, so they shall be liable 
to be punished or fined for the neglect thereof upon any presentment 
of the grand jurors or other information or complaint in any plantations 
in this jurisdiction; and for this end they, or the greater part of them, 
shall have power to take account from time to time of their parents and 
masters of their children concerning their calling and employment of 
their children, especially of their ability to read and understand the 
principles of religion and the capital laws of the country, and to impose 
fines upon all those who refuse to render such accounts to them when 
required; and they shall have power, with the consent of any court or 
magistrate, to put forth apprentices the children of such as shall not 
be able and fit to employ and bring them up, nor shall take course to 
dispose of them themselves; and they are to take care that 
such as are set to keep cattle be set to some other employment 
withal as spinning up on the rock, knitting, weaving tape, etc. ; 
and that boys and girls be no allowed to converse together, so as 
may occasion any wanton, dishonest or immodest behavior. And 
for the better performance of this trust committed to them, they may 
divide the town amongst them, appointing to every of the said towns- 
men a certain number of families to have special oversight of. They 
are also to provide that a sufficient quantity of materials, as hemp, 
flax, etc., may be raised in their several towns, and tools and implements 
provided for workingout the same. And for their assistance in this so 
needful and beneficial employment, if they meet with any difficulty or 
opposition which they cannot well master by their own power, they may 
have recourse to some of the magistrates, who shall take such course for 
their help and encouragement as the occasion shall require, according 
to justice." 8 

A comparison of this Act of the Court with the general pro- 
visions of the Elizabethan law of 1601 shows the addition of 
and the Puritan emphasis upon reading and conduct. These in 
fact stand out as the emphatic points of the Massachusetts law, 
while the industrial feature receives the emphasis in its English 
fore-runner. 

The Act of 1642 places the responsibility of carrying out its 
provisions upon the men who manage the " prudential affairs of 



Mass. Col. Records, II., 8-9. 



Free Education for the Poor 27 

the town " instead of the overseers of the poor, officials who came 
much later in Massachusetts in response to the growing number 
of the poor and the increased duties of the selectmen. 

The provision for supplying raw material for training appren- 
tices and to give an opportunity by which adults might turn 
an honest penny is identical in both laws as is also the power 
which is given to certain officials to apprentice such children 
whose parents are not able to bring them up to profitable em- 
ployment. 

The power to tax which is explicitly given in the English law 
is implicit in the Colonial measure as the selectmen are to be 
punished or fined in case these duties with which they are charged 
are not properly performed. It is not to be supposed that these 
officials were individually liable for the money necessary to carry 
out the provisions of the Act. Occasions for the exercise of 
these powers were probably quite infrequent and a special rate 
was therefore unnecessary ; the required amount being taken from 
the levy to cover the general expenses of the town. Two items 
taken from the Dorchester Records bear out the above state- 
ments. 

"Artecls of Agreement had been made and agreed vpon between 
Captaine Hopstill Foster, Liftnt Jno Capen, Ensigne Richard Hale, 
Srgnt Samuell Clap and Srgnt James Blake, Selectmen of the town of 
Dorchester for the time being on the one part: and Henery Merefeild 
and Margaret his wife of the same town on the other pt'y: this three and 
twentieth day of March one thousand Six hundred and Sixty nine or 
Seaunty, as followeth: 

"Wittneseth that the said Selectmen on the behalf of the Towne 
haue put and bound the child of John Stock and Deliuerance his wife 
vnto the said Henery Merefeild and Margarte his wife their heyers execu- 
tors Administrators or Assignes, to Nurce, educate and bring up vntill 
it accomplish the age of Sixteene or eighteene yeers (at the liberty of the 
said Merefeild to accept of) it being now about the age of twenty weeks, 
rinding vnto and pv'iding for the maintenance of the Child now in its 
Infancy. 

And soe forward as it shall grow vp to more ripeness of years and 
statuer duering the whole term such sufficient nessesarys for food and 
rayment &c. as shall be meete : as alsoe when it shall be Capable to teach 
or Cause it to be taught to read p'ftly the English tongue, And alsoe to 
teach and instruct her in the principles of Christian religion. And in 
such houswifry emploument of Spinning and knitting, as she may be 

capable off to learne and her to keep in sickness and in helth And 

in Consideration heeroff the foresaid Selectmen doe in behalf of them- 
selves for the time being and their Successors on the behalf of the Towne 



28 Free Education for the Poor 

that ther shall be paid out of the towne Rate the Sum of Therty pounds : 
Viz: ten pound at the end of the feirst yeer after the date heerof whether 
the Child liue or dy; and ten pound by the yeer for the next two yeers 
then he the said Merefeild shall haue but p'portionably of the pay accord- 
ing to the life of the Child in witness heerof etc." 9 

An earlier record, 1651, is of the same import: 

"It is agreed between the selectmen and br Tolman that hee shall 
take Henry lakes child to keepe it vntill it com to 2 1 yeares of age &c and 
therefore to haue 26 pounds and to give security to the towne and to 
teach it to read and wright and when it is capable if he lives the said br 
Tolman to teach it his trade. 

"further agreed if it dies wthin 2 monthes br Tolman is to returne 
21 pounds if it die at one yeares end br T. is to returne 18 pounds, etc." 10 

In the Watertown Records we find the following indenture 
bearing date of 1656: 

"These are to show, that Elizabeth Braibrook widow of Watertown, 
hath put her daughter (with the consent of the selectmen) into the hands 
of Simont Tomson & his wife of Ipswich ropemaker to be as an apprentice, 
vntill she comes to the age of eighteen years, in wch time the sd Sarah 
is to serve them in all lowful Comands, & the said Simont is to teach her 
to reade the English Tongue, & to instruct her in the knowledge of god 
& his ways." 11 

An indenture made in Springfield, 1681, is as follows: 

"... .the Selectmen of the Town of Springfield, whose names are here 

subscribed Do by these prsnts set forth & put to & agree with 

Samuell Terry Senr his wife, his heires & assignes, to take into his family 
under his care tuition and Education, & for his servant Jno Matthews 
his Son Named Jno Matthews until the said child shal attain the age of 

One & Twenty years that his the said Apprentice shal be taught 

wel to read the English Tongue...." 12 

No mention is made in the indenture of an apprenticeship fee 
but the following record shows that the town bore the expense: 

"And wheras there is about seven shillings due Samuell Terrey upon 
ye account of his keeping Jno Matthews his child, It was voted that the 
Select men pay him seven shillings out of the Townes Stocke." 13 

Salem in 1643 ordered that 

"Joseph Harris the son of George Harris deceased shall dwell with 
Mr Thorndeck, both of Salem, from the first day of the sixth moneth 

9 Dorchester Records, 165. 

10 Ibid., 306. 

11 Watertown Records, 47. 

12 Springfield Records, Vol. II., 152. 

13 Ibid., 194. 



Free Education for the Poor 29 

last 43 for seuen yeares finding him meate drink & aparrell: & allowing 
to him fiue pounds, two pounds being already payd, and the said John 
Thorndeck to alow to the sd Joseph three pounds at the end of his 
tearme." 14 

Maiden in 1745 

"Voted that Edward Wayte shall have John Ramsdell who is about 
five years old till he come of age and said Wayt shall have thirty pounds 
old tenor with him in case said Waitt wil be obliged to learne said child 
to read, wright and cypher and also to learne him the Shoemakers trade. ' ' 15 

Dedham in the " case ppounded respecting the reliefe of the 
widdow Dunckley and her children " determined to " comit the 
care and trust of the whole case to the select men and the 
Deacons who haue power to provide reliefe for them and to dis- 
pose of such childeren as they shall judge meet " 16 

A month later action was again taken: 

"The Case respecting the Vid Dunckley and her childeren the 

present trust and power is committed to ( ) to dispose of her 2 

eldest childeren, the boye as speedily as may be and the Girle as soone as 
they haue optunite if it can be put out without charge but if it require 
charge then to returne the case to the select men before they engage." 1 

According to the law, the selectmen were not only to appren- 
tice poor children but they were also to take " into consideration 
the great neglect in many parents and masters in training up 
their children in learning and labor." The following quotations 
show that this feature of the law was not neglected : 

"At a meeting of the selectmen it was agreed vnto that a warrant 
should be directed to the Constable to Sumon Timothy Wales and his 
wife, and his two lesser boys, to appeare before the select men at their 
next meeting, to be enquiered after Concerning their Education and 
improuement of their time, and Peter Lyon and his wife, and Jno Plum 
and Arthor Cartwright and Robert Stiles all on the same account they 
or some of theirs." 18 

"Arthur Cartwright (being formerly Somoned) appeared before the 
Select men; his answer Conserning his Sonne was, that he was about to 
put him apprentice to a kindsman of his that is a Sea-man and soe he 
was dismissed. 

"The same day Robt Stiles being Somoned appeared before the Select 
men to answer for their idleness, and vpon examination it was found 

14 Records of Salem, 124. 

15 Corey, History of Maiden, 402. 

16 Dedham Records, Vol. III., 197. 

17 Ibid., 203. 

18 Dorchester Records, 181. 



30 Free Education for the Poor 

that both hee and his wife haue not improved their time to the aduantage 
of their famely as they ought and ther vpon was aduertized to reforme 
or elce to be further p'ceeded with as the law requiers. 

"The same day Peter Lyon appeared and gaue an accoupt that his 
Sonns did follow their employment and that for the time to come he 
would look dillegently after them. 

' ' The same day Timothy Wales appeared with his sonns and could 
giue noe good accoumpt of that for which he was sent for, but his words 
and answers were very offensiue and Contemptuous vnto the Select 
men, and therefore it was ordered, that both he and his two Sons be 
againe Sumoned to appeare and to guie an accompt how he answeres 
the law. 19 

"The same day John Plume appeared to answer for his negligence 
in his Calling, but Could giue noe good accompt for himself, or for not 
disposing of his Sonne to some Master." 20 

"At a meeting of the Select men Timothy Wales and his Sonns, being 
Sumoned appeared before the Select men, and upon examination of the 
boys they weer found to be very Ignorant, and not able to read, and 
being admoneshed was dismissed at that time only he made some acknowl- 
edgment of his offensiue words and Carridge the last day of Meeting and 
that in wrighting which remains on file." 

The following appears in the Brookline Records: 

' ' It was ordered that notice be given to the severall persens under- 
written, that thay within one month after the date herof, dispose of their 
severall children abroad for servants to serve by Indentures for some 
term of years according to their ages and capacities, wch if they refuse 
or neglect to doe, The magistrates and select men will take theire children 
said children from them and place them with such masters as they shall 
provide accordinge as the law provides; And that they doe accordinge 
to this order dispose of their children doe make return of the names of 
master and children soe put out to service, with the Indentures to the 
Selectmen at the next meeting." 21 

In Watertown: 

' ' Willyam priest John Fisk and George Larance were warned to a 
meeting of the select men at John Bigulah his house they making thier 
a peerance and being found defective weer admonished for not Learning 
their Children to read the english toung." 22 

"At a meeting of the select men at the house of Isaake Sterns John 
Bigulah and Thomas Flag seni weer a pointed to treat with Edward 
Sanderson and his wife a bought giteing a servis for the bigist of his two 
least of his children wher it may be to their own content and the good 

19 Ibid., 181. 

20 Ibid., 182. 

21 Muddy River and Brookline Records, 67. 

22 Watertown Records, 103. 



Free Education for the Poor 31 

Edewcation of the child in lerning and labor and the town will be help- 
full to them if they desire it and to acquaint them that if themselues doe 
not that then the town will puive a servis for it. 

"It was further agreed that the select men should goe thrugh the town 
in their ceueral quarters to make tryall whether children and servants 
be educated in Learning to read the English tongue and in the knowledg 
of the capitall Laws according to the Law of the Country also that they 
may be educated in some orthadox Catacise." 23 

In a long letter to the Court the selectmen of Lancaster state 
with reference to a certain Edmond Parker that: 

"The townsmen from time to time hath laboured with him in Reference 
to his son to get him sum learning and to bring him up to some employ- 
ment according as the law provides or to suffer them to doe it, but nothing 
would prevaile with him." 24 

In reply 

"The Court commended it to the care of the Select men to inspect his 
family and observe their manners for the future and in case they find no 
amendment in those charges whereof he hath been now convicted they 
are then hereby ordered and impowered to dispose of the sonne to service 
where he may be better taught and Governed." 25 

In carrying out the provisions of this Act which made edu- 
cation compulsory and the selectmen, for the town, responsible 
for the education of the poor children it is a noteworthy fact 
that the first school rate levied in the town of Salem (1644) 
was to pay the tuition of children whose parents were unable 
to pay. We also quote from the Dedham Records : 

"A Rate was made for the paym't of the Schoolemaster what is due 
from the male Childeren that are capable to paye according to the Town 
order being assessed at 3S-6d per childe." 26 

In 1702 Braintree 

"Provided that any poor persons in this Town who shall send any 
children to sd school & find themselves unable to pay upon application 
to the Select men it shall be in their power to remit a part or ye whole 
of ye sum." 

Brookline in 1687 enacted: 

"And that the Remainder necessary to support the charge of the Master 
be laid equaly on the scholars heads save any persons that are poor to be 
abated wholly or in part." 

23 Ibid., 104. 

24 Lancaster Records, 95. 

25 Ibid., 96. 

26 Dedham Records, Vol. II., 125. 



32 Free Education for the Poor 

In 1704 Plymouth excepted 

"The Children of such as through poverty are rendered oncapable of 
pay theire Children to goe to school free " 

Watertown in 1686 when changing from support by general 
taxation to tuition and supply 

"Voated Allso that the Towne will paye for such Chilldren as ther.r 
parents are not abell to pay for the select men Being Judges of that 
matter." 

Boston in 1679 referred 

"A Free Schoole to teach the Children of poore people to ye Select- 
men." 

Four years later two such schools were ordered. It is prob- 
able that all the towns in which the schools were not free from 
tuition charges made provision for those children whose parents 
were unable to pay. Dedham, for example, in its formal enact- 
ments on school matters makes no such provision yet when the 
tuition rate is being made up we find that exceptions were made. 
This may be the situation in other towns whose records are silent 
on this point. All this action on the part of the towns indicates 
the far-reaching influence of the Law of 1642 which commands 
the town so to provide that all children shall at least be able to 
read. When the town made such provision by abating tuition 
in favor of those unable to pay, such action amounted to a poor 
rate since with the teacher at a fixed salary whatever amount *p" 
was not met by tuition must have been paid by rate. Or, if the 
rate were fixed and the remainder made up by tuition, then the 
burden fell upon the parents who were able to pay tuition 
charges and became more or less a compulsory contribution. The 
tendency, of course, would always be to throw the burden upon 
the town and we may say without fear of contradiction that 
the first general system of free education at the expense of the 
taxpayers was brought about by the Act of 1642. 

In summary, then, the first and last stages of development 
shown in the history of the support of the poor in England are 
indicated in the methods for a like purpose in colonial Massa- 
chusetts; also the Law enacted in 1642 and the examples of its 
enforcement which have been cited show how deeply its various 
provisions were rooted in the Poor Laws of England. The Eng- 
lish law established the principle that the property of the State 



Free Education for the Poor 33 

is subject to taxation that the child of poor parents may be 
taught to labor. The Massachusetts law broadened the scope of 
responsibility to include learning as well. It has been shown 
conclusively that the town was held responsible through the 
selectmen for the free education of the child and that the town 
met its responsibilities through apprenticing children, through 
warning neglectful parents, and through remitting or abating 
tuition charges. 



CHAPTER IV 
Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

In this chapter we propose to present all the data, with re- 
spect to school support up to the time when schools became 
supported by general taxation, which is found in the records and 
local histories of twenty-one Massachusetts towns. 

Previous to this our conclusions have been based for the most 
part on the influence of an existing solution of similar problems 
in other fields of experience as well as on the few records bear- 
ing upon our problem, the latter being evidence that the former 
was an active element in the situation. But in time the direct 
influence of European ideals and experiences began to wane 
and methods of support became more adapted to local conditions. 
All these variations are a matter of record and from them we 
complete the development process and derive our conclusions 
to be found in a later chapter. 

But somewhat in preparation for a better understanding of the 
records of town action and the charts of expenditures in Brook- 
line, Dedham, Dorchester, and Watertown it seems best to dis- 
cuss briefly the general method of taxation and the various 
activities for the support of which the townsmen were taxed. 

Though it was probably used earlier, yet in 1646 the Court 
fixed upon 1 penny to every 20 shillings valuation as a rate 
sufficient to carry on the business of the Colony or "Country." 
This continued to be the basis of calculation though in 1655 the 
penny per pound lost its characteristic of being the " rate " for 
in that year 1% rates were called for and the reduplication went 
as high as 16 rates in 1676. The Court also in 1646 levied a 
poll tax of 20 pence on all males over 16 years of age, and a 
reduplication of the rate also called for a like reduplication of 
the poll tax which of course bore heavily on those with little 
property from which to pay. These two items constituted what 
was called the "Country Rate." I quote an invoice from Water- 
town for the year 1678 showing the basis for the distribution 
of taxes among the towns: 

"This day the inuoice for the cuntry Reate was parfected Amounting 
vnto 6691 pounds & the parsons 176. 



Records of Toivn Action with Respect to School Support 35 

Also from the Records of Boston showing the high esteem 
in which the poll tax was held : 

"In respect of polle money we apprehend its parallel is not in any 
country where the sword is not drawn in offensive or defensive war." 

The various rates were usually paid in " country pay " which 
meant whatever kind of produce or even live stock the tax- 
payer had to offer. An example is taken from the Court Rec- 
ords for 1640: 

"It was ordered, that in payment, silver plate should pass as 5s. the 
ounce; good ould Indian corne, growing hear, being clean and mar- 
chantable, at 5 s. the bushell, summer wheate at 7 s. the bushell, rye at 
6 — 8 the bushell. And for horses, mares, cowes, goats, and hoggs, there 
is a committee appointed to valewe them under their worth rather than 
above their worth." 

To this list we might add fish, lumber, beaver skins, wampum, 
and peas. A large discount was always given for cash varying 
from Yz to Yz the amount of the tax. 

Rates were levied commonly for the country, the pastor, the 
town, the school, and infrequently for meeting such expenses of 
the county Court as were not paid by fines, etc. With the excep- 
tion of the rate for the school these are all shown in a Water- 
town town order for the year 1678. 

A cuntry & County Reate of 145 — I2 — °3« 

A reate for the pasturs maintainance of 142 — 18 — 00. 

And a towne Rate of 91 — 8 — 01 . 

The sources of school support mentioned in the records are 
the income from lands, islands, ferries, legacies, etc., contribu- 
tions, tuition, and taxation. The town rates for schools were 
of two kinds : ( 1 ) An amount covering the master's salary, 
or a definitely determined part of it; and (2) an amount suf- 
ficient to meet the difference between the sum paid by the pupils 
and the salary guaranteed to the master. The latter rate was 
called " supply." We have a good example of this in the Brain- 
tree Records : 

"That what ye Rent of Town Lands and ye head money of ye Schollers 
shall fall short of ye School masters sallery shall be raised by a Towne 
rate equally proportioned upon ye Inhabitants of ye sd Town." 

Tuition rates were also of two kinds, (1) a fixed amount to 
be paid by all the children of a specified age or else by such 
as attended school, as for example from the Dedham Records : 



2)6 Records of Toivn Action with Respect to School Support 

"The Schoole Rate for the raiseing £25 one .£5 wherof is to pay bro: 
metcalf £12 10s. being by Town voate to be borne by the schollers the 
other is pd by estates at ip £ the ouer pluse whereof is topaye the Towne 
debts." or again from the same town: 

"A Rate made for the paymt of the Schoole Master what is due for 
the male Childeren that are capable to pay according to the Town order 
being assessed at 3s. 6d. p childe." 

and (2) an indefinite amount to supplement a fixed town rate 
as witness the agreement between the town of Newbury and the 
master : 

"the Selectmen agreed with Henry Short to be the schoolmaster and 
to have for the first halfe yeare five pounds to be paid out of the Towne 
Rate and to have sixpense a week for every scholar." 

Let us now turn to our main sources of information — the rec- 
ords themselves. 

In 1635 the Town of Boston agreed to invite " brother Phile- 
mon Pormont " to become its schoolmaster 1 and in the following 
year forty-five of " the richer inhabitants " contributed " toward 
the maintenance of a free schoolmaster for the youth with us, 
Mr. Daniel Maud being now chosen thereunto." 2 This shows 
clearly that the first public school in Boston was supported by 
voluntary contribution. Further evidence on this point is fur- 
nished by Winthrop in his History of New England in which 
he writes that in 1645 the custom was to pay " the yearly charge 
of the school by contribution, either by voluntary allowance, or 
by rate of such as refused, etc., and this order was confirmed 
by the General Court." 3 A probable instance of this rating of 
those who refused since Winthrop mentions no general rating 
is found in the records for the year '44, when it was ordered 
" that the Constables shall pay unto Deacon Eliot for the use 
of mr Woodbridge eight pounds due to him for keeping the 
Schoole the Last yeare." 4 

With the exception of the income derived from the rental of 
several islands and of a tract of land in Braintree there is no 
further mention of support of the school until 1650 when at 
that time it was " agreed that Mr. Woodmansey, the School- 
master, shall have fiftye pounds per annum for his teaching the 

1 Second Report of the Record Commissioners, 5. 

'Ibid., 160. 

3 Winthrop, Hist, of N. E., II., 264. 

* Second Report of Record Commissioners, 82. 



Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 37 

schollers and his proportion to be made up by rate." 5 This marks 
the end of the period of support by contribution, either volun- 
tary or compulsory, and rates were levied annually from this 
time on. 

These rates were levied, however, for the support of the Gram- 
mar School. In 1679 agitation was begun to establish a free 
school for the children of the poor, that is, a school where writing 
and arithmetic should be taught. Four years later the follow- 
ing action was taken: 

"At a meeting of Dr. Elisha Cooke, Mr. Simond Linde, and Mr. John 
Faireweather with the present Selectmen of the Town beinge a Committee 
apoynted by the town to consider of and provide one or more free schools 
for teaching of children to write and cypher accordinge to a vote of the 
iSth of December 1682, It was voted by the said Committee first that 
two schooles shall be pvided and agreed for secondlie yt the Towne 
shall allow 25 pounds ann for each schoole for the present & yt such 
psons as send thiere Children to schoole (yt are able) should pay some- 
thinge to ye Master for his better incouragement in his worke." 7 

This last clause shows that the schools though supported by 
rate were not absolutely free. In the Selectmen's report for 
1741 we see that the custom of making a charge on the individual 
pupil still continued. The item referred to is as follows : 

"Mr. John Proctor, Master of the North Writing School, appeared at 
the Desire of the Selectmen and being fully Discoursed with upon the 
Complaint of his refusing to take Children of some Families of Low 
circumstances in the World, and insisting on large Demands for Firing 
and Entry money etc — to which he Informed that as to Firing, he had 
not more than Five Shillings a piece, one with another (some paying 
and some not Paying) and as to the Entry money, he had not Demanded 
any of the Towns Inhabitants, but of Strangers, of which he now had 
about Ten in School, And that he has refused none of the Inhabitants 
children, but such as could not read the Psalter." 8 

It was ten years later, 1751, before charges of some kind on 
at least those pupils whose parents were able to pay were defi- 
nitely forbidden. Several of the inhabitants being dissatisfied 
because of the great expense to which the town was put to 
support the schools petitioned for the appointment of a committee 
to investigate the matter. The committee reported as follows : 

6 Ibid., 99. 

6 The Report of the Record Commissioners, Vol. 7., 127. 

7 Ibid., 161. 

8 Records of the Selectmen of Boston, 1736-42, 288. 



38 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

"The Committee appointed the 12th of March last to make Enquiry 
into the present state of the Town and the Couse of the great Expence 
thereof and to consider what Method the Town can take in order to pre- 
vent or reduce the same, now reported, that they had met and attended 
tht service & having Particularly Inspected the Accompts both of the 
Selectmen and the Overseers of the Poor, agreed upon the whole to Report 
as follows Vizt. 

'* 1st. That the Chargeof supporting the several publick schools amount- 
ed the last year to more than J part of the whole sum drawn by the 
Selectmen; but altho, this Charge is very Considerable & the number of 
Schools is greater than the Law requires, Yet as the Education of Children 
is of the greatest Importance to the Community; the Committee cannot 
be of the Opinion that any Saving can be made to Advantage on that 
head; except the Town should think it expedient to come into Methods 
to oblige such of the Inhabitants who send their Children to the publick 
Schools and are able to pay for their Education themselves to ease the 
Town of that Charge by assessing some reasonable Sum upon the for that 
purpose. 

"Which being read, Voted that each paragraph of said report be 
taken into Consideration separatly, and by itself, and thereupon the 
first paragraph was Debated, and the following Question put Vizt. 
Whether the Town will come into any Alteration or other method than 
they now have relating to the Schools Voted in the Negative. 

"On a motion made and seconded, Voted that the several Masters of 
the Publick Grammar Schools and Writing Schools in the Town be 
directed not to refuse taking into their respective schools any Child, or 
Children, that may be brought to 'em, for Education, in Case Entcrence 
Money (so called) is not paid said Masters, and allso that they shall not 
demand any Pay or Allowance for Instructing such Children, as belong 
to the Town, and that attend in the School hours only." 9 

This to all intents and purposes made the schools of Boston 
entirely free. 

The first method of support for the town school of Braintree 
is shown by an act passed in 1668 which is as follows : 

"At Towne meeting this vote passed for schoolmaster: That the 
Towne of Brantry did consent to lay the Schoole land : that is to say the 
annuall Income of it; for a salliry for a School master, and to make it 
up to twenty pounds besides what every child must give." 10 

In '79 the salary of the master was made thirty pounds but 
the method of support indicated above was not changed. 11 

In '81 both the rent and the rate were made definite sums: 



9 The Report of the Record Commissioners, Vol. 14., 199. 

10 Records of the Town of Braintree, 9. 
"Ibid., 18. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 39 

"the rent as formerly at 15 lb. & fifteen pounds by a Towne 
rate." 12 No mention is made here of tuition charges but as 
his salary in '79 was thirty pounds beside the " quarter money " 
it is probable that the action taken in '81 did not make the 
school free but merely defined what was expected from the town 
and from the school lands. In 1700 the tuition charge was one 
shilling per quarter 13 which evidently was paid with considerable 
reluctance as is shown by the direction given by the town to 
the selectmen in 1701. 

"It was then voted that the Selectmen shalbe and are now empowered 

to call for and recover ye Entry money for ye yeare 1700 & 1701 by 

suit at law upon refusal of yr Parents or masters concerned." 14 

The above action would indicate a considerable difference of 
opinion in the town with respect to the proper method of sup- 
port and it was probably on this account that the town later in 
the year set forth at length the views of the majority in the fol- 
lowing resolution : 

"The Inhabitants of Braintry Regulerly Asembled for the setling of a 
Schoolmaster or Schoolmasters for ye year ensuing and raising of their 
sallary or Sallerys and a suitable way for ye paying of it — First voted 
that ye Rent of ye Towne lands formerly paying to ye school shall con- 
tinue a part of ye Sallery. 2. That ye parent or master that shall send 
any scholler or schollers to ye said school shall pay for each Scholler or 
schollers to ye Town Treasr for ye support of ye school five shillings a 
yeare & Proportionably for any part of it. 

"3. That any Person or Persons living out of ye Towne who shall 
send any Scholler or Schollers to ye aforesd School shall pay twenty 
shillings a year to ye Town Treasr and proportionably for any part of it. 
Provided that any poor persons in this Town who shall send any children 
to sd school & find themselves unable to pay upon application to the 
Select men it shall be in their power to remit a part or ye whole of ye sum. 

"4. That what ye Rent of Town Lands and ye head money of ye 
Schollers shall fall short of ye School masters sallery shall be raised by a 
Town rate equally proportioned upon ye Inhabitants of ye sd Town. 

"Then voted yt Lt John Baxter & Lt Samuel Penniman should carry 
what has been voted and agreed upon to ye next sessions and offer it 
to them for their approbation and confirmation." 15 

No record was made of the Court's decision nor is there any 
record of the town's action with respect to schools until 17 16. 

12 Ibid., 20. 

13 Ibid., 47. 

14 Ibid., 50. 

15 Ibid., 51. 



40 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

It was then voted " by ye Inhabitants of Braintry Regularly 
assembled that there should be a school kept in the South end 
of this Town for one half of the year, each year yearly, begin- 
ning the first day of October yearly, for reading & writing 
(besides the present grammar school) and that to be at the 
charge of the town." 16 Whether this action marks the beginning 
of school support by general taxation or whether it began at 
some earlier date can not be decided from the records but as 
will be shown in another chapter the inference is that the year 
1716 marks the date of such support. 

Brookline was originally a part of the town of Boston and as 
such contributed to the general town expenses. Feeling that 
they were not sharing in the benefits to an amount equal to their 
contributions, the inhabitants of the hamlet petitioned the town 
to be set apart. Nine months later, December, 1686, the town 
took the following action : 

"In answer to the petition of the Inhabitants of Mudie River, praying 
to have liberty to erect a school &c. upon the hearinge therof, The Presi- 
dent and Councill doe order, That henceforth the said Hamlet of Mudie 
River be free from Town Rates to ye Towne of Bostone, they maintaining 
theire own high wayes and poor and other publique charges ariseing 
among themselves, And that within one year next comeing they raise a 
school house in such place as the two next Justices of the Countrie shall 
determine as also maintaine an able reading and writinge Master there, 
frm and after that day, and that the Inhabitants annuallie meete and 
choose three men to manage thiere affairs." 17 

The following year the inhabitants 

"Voted that for the Annual maintainance of the Schoolmaster twelve 
pounds per annum in or as money be Raised equally by a Rate accordinge 
to the usual manner of Raising publick charges by the three men And 
that the Remainder necessary to support the charge of the Master be 
laid equally on the scholars heads save any persons that are poor to be 
abated wholly or in part." 18 

Some time previous to 1700 the hamlet evidently lost its inde- 
pendent position as is shown by this action of the town : 

"Upon the petition of the Inhabitants of muddiriver To be a District 
or Hamlet seperate from the Town for these reasons following, namely, 
the remoteness of their situation wch renders them uncapable of Injoy- 

16 Ibid., 88. 

17 Muddv River and Brookline Records, 57. 

18 Ibid., '86. 



Records of Town Action zvith Respect to School Support 41 

ing Equal Benefit & advantage wth other of the Inhabitants of Publick 
Schools. 

"Their petition being read & the reasons given therin Debated, It 
was voted in the negative, & that they had not for some time been rated 
in the Town rate yet for the time to come the selectmen should rate them 
in the Town Tax as the other Inhabitants & as formerly they used to be. 

"And for their Incouragement It was voted that the Selectmen should 
provide a Schoolmaster for them, To teach their children to read, write 
& cypher & order his pay out of the Town Treasury." 19 

By 1705, Brookline was again taking local action with respect 
to its own affairs and the method of school support outlined 
in '87 was reinacted. 20 In 1710 pressure was brought to bear 
on the town by the outlying inhabitants and it was 

"Voted That there be Liberty Granted to Erect Two Schoolhouses 
at there own Charge that improve them. Also that they maintain a 
good school dame half of the yeare at each house. That the Town allow 
the charge for a Master one qr at one school house and the other quarter 
at the other. To teach to write and Cypher." 21 

From 1710 to 1713 school was kept in two places and from that 
date to 1727 in three places and thereafter to the end of the 
printed records in two places. After the installation of the 
moving school there is no mention of tuition. 

In the charts which follow abscissas give the years and the 
ordinates the amounts in pounds. 

A considerable rise in the church rate indicates that a church 
or a house for the pastor had been built. The former is the 
case in Dorchester in '79, Dedham in '74 and Watertown in 
'54-'58 by installments; the latter in Dorchester in '82. 

A rise in the province rate in the neighborhood of '75 shows 
the increased taxation due to King Philip's War and in '90 to 
King William's War. 

The first schools of Cambridge were not town but private 
schools, the town granting the use of land or small sums of 
money from time to time for the " encouragement " of the mas- 
ter. Thus in 1638 the use of two and two-thirds acres of land 
was granted to Nathaniel Eaton as long as he kept school in 
the town. 22 In '48 the town sold some of the common land for 

* 3 Ibid., 63. 
10 Ibid., 90. 
"Ibid., 96. 
23 The Records of the Town of Cambridge, 33. 



42 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

— churcK rate. 

-towtv •• 

School expenses. 



ISO 



120 

no 
too 

90 

so 

79 
60 
50 

40 
SOI- 
10 
10 



I 



Brookline 



ii 

i i — 



i 



\y 




1704 '10 '15 *20 



25 '30 '35 



In the Brookline chart the abscissas give the years and the ordinates amounts in pounds. 
The increased church rate indicated by the rapid rise of the line in 17 14-16 was due to the 
building of a new " meeting-house." In 1723 it was voted that three school houses be 
built and the necessary funds taken from the town treasury, from time to time, by order 
from the selectmen. In 1727 the teaching staff was enlarged by the addition of another 
master for a term of four months, and a school dame for a term of eight months. 



Records of Tozvti Action with Respect to School Support 43 

ten pounds and gave it to Master Corlet.- 3 In 1654 it was 
" Voted affirmative at the meeting of the Towne that the Towns- 
men shall levy twenty pounds upon the severall Inhabitants and 
give mr Corlet for his pnt Incouragement to continue with us." 24 
All this indicates a lively interest on the part of the town in 
a private not a town school. 

It is not until 1692 that the recorded action of the town shows \y 
the change from private to town school. The record is as 
follows : 

"It was then voted by the Inhabitants that they would giue to a 
grammar schoolmaster that should alsoe teach english that they would 
allow a Schoolmaster Twenty pound ayeare in Comon pay and this was 
voted in the afirmitive by the major part of the Inhabitants then present 
at least two to one." 25 

The town continued to support the school in this way. 

The first item of interest in the records of Dedham concern- 
ing school affairs is found in the proceedings for the year 1642: 

"Also it was with vnanimous consent concluded that some portion of 
land in this entended deusion should be set apart for publique vse: viz 
for the Towne the Church & A fre Schoole viz: 40 acres at the least or 
60 acres at the most." 28 

Most of the towns made identical provision at some time or 
another and, as in the case of Dedham, disposed of the land 
before it ever became a source of revenue. 

No further action was taken with respect to a school until 
1644 when the inhabitants passed the following resolution: 

"The sd Inhabitants takeing into Consideration the great necesitie of 
prouiding some meanes for the Education of the youth in or sd Towne 
did with an vnanimous consent declare by voate their willingness to 
promote that worke promising to put too their hands to prouide main- 
tainance for a Free Schoole in our said Towne. 

"And farther did resolute & consent testefyinge it by vote to rayse 
the some of Twenty pounds p annu : towards the maintaining of a schoole 
mr to keep a free Schoole in our said Towne. 

"And also did resolue & consent to betrust the sd 20 pounds p annu: 
& certaine lands in or Towne formerly set a part for publique use: into 
the hands of Feeofees to be presently Chosen by themselues to imploy 

23 Ibid., 77. 

24 Ibid., 106. 

25 Ibid., 297. 

26 Dedham Records, Vol. III., 92. 



44 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

the sd 20 pounds and the land aforesaid to be improved for the vse of 
the sd Schoole: that as the profits shall arise from the sd lands euery 
man may be proportionably abated of his some of the sd 20 pounds 
aforesaid freely to be giuen to ye vs aforesaid And yt said Feeofees shall 
haue power to make a rate for the necessary charg of improuing the sd 
land : they giueing account thereof to the Town or to whom they should 
depute." 27 

We have here a free school which the youth of the town 
might attend; a school supported by the entire tax-paying body 
though not supported by a tax ; a school supported by a " vol- 
untary contribution " on the part of each inhabitant but so 
enacted as to make the payment as compulsory as an assessed 
tax; the first free school in America to be supported by the 
people as a whole. 

In 1648 it was resolved by general consent to build a school 
house. 28 This was paid for out of the town rate and from the 
items in the constable's report apparently cost eleven pounds. 

No further action was taken on the part of the town until 
1 65 1 when, the seven year covenant made in '44 having expired, 
it became necessary to take up the matter of support once more. 
At a general meeting of the town it was 

" Resolved that a Schoole for ye education of ye youth in our Towne 
shall be continued and mayntane for the whole term of seven years 
next, and that the settled mayntenance or wages of the Schoole mr shall 
be 20 pounds p ann at ye leaste. 

"A Towne stock shall be raysed to ye sume of 20 pounds at ye leaste." 29 

The above record bears no date other than the year. What is 
evidently a later record of the same year reads as follows : 

"It is Resolued that a Schoole for the education of youth shall be con- 
tinued and mayntayned in our Towne its resolued that som settled way 
of the maintenance of the Schoole shall be agreed vpon. 

"Its ordered that 20 pounds a yeare at the leaste shall be the settled 
recompence of the schoolemr for 7 yeares next ensueing 

"the 5 men heerevnder named ar chosen to ripen this case of reyseing 
20 pounds pan for the schoolemr and ppose thier thoughts to ye Towne." 30 

Soon after this resolution was passed, a meeting of the select- 
men was called and the following method of raising the master's 



27 Ibid., 105. 

28 Ibid., 123. 

29 Ibid., 135. 

30 Ibid., 192. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 45 

salary was decided upon — a method radically different from that 
which founded the school seven years previously : 

"Concerning the Schoole. these ppositions ar to be tendered to the 
consideration of the Towne for the mayntayning therof for 7 yeares. 

" 1 that all such Inhabitants in our Towne that haue Male children or 
seruants in thier families betwixt the age of 4 and 14 yeares shall paye 
for each such to the Schoolemr for the time beinge or to his vse at his 
assignment in Towne in Currant pavement the sume of 5 shillings yearely 
pvided that such children be then liueing and abideing in our Towne. 

"2 And wt so euer these sumes fall short of the sume of Twentie pounds 
shall be raised by waye of Rateing vpon estates according to the vsall 
manner. 

"3 that these sumes shall be payed in 2 equall sumes at the end of 
each half yeare for the space of 7 yeares next ensueing. " 3l 

There is no record to the effect that the Town accepted these 
propositions which the selectmen tendered but the fact that this 
method with varying tuition rates prevailed for more than thirty 
years is sufficient evidence of its acceptance. 

During these years the town had been growing; homes had 
been set up farther and farther away from the schoolhouse and 
these estates were taxed at the same rate and the children paid 
the same tuition as did those who lived near the school. This 
probably seemed unfair to those less fortunately situated with 
respect to the school ; at any rate a different method of support, 
or rather a variation of the preceding method, went into effect 
in 1685 which exempted all those who lived more than two 
and one-half miles from the school from paying any tuition 
but taxed all such estates towards payment of one-half the school 
charges. It is a most original method of dealing with the problem 
and with one exception is self-explanatory. The method is as 
follows : 

"1 that the one half of the Schoole charges as wellfor quality as quantity 
Shall be raised upon the ratable Estate of our inhabitants whether nearer 
the school or further of. 

"2 that all such persons as dwell within one mile and A quarter from 
the School haveing male children Shall pay for each Such child five 
Shillings A year from six years old to twelve years old. 

"3 that those that dwell within two miles and A half of the Schoole, 
and beyond the mile and quarter Shall pay two Shillings Six pence A 
year for their male children from Seaven years old to twelve years old. 

"4 that gramer Scholors Shall be rated and pay to the Schoole five 

31 Ibid., 202. 



46 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

Shillings pr head mor then English Scholers that dwell within A mile 
and a quarter of the Schoole. 

"5 that those inhabitants that dwell mor than two miles and A half 
from the Schoole Shall be freed from all charges by rates upon their 
childrens heads for the Schools until they Shall receive benifir thereby, 
and then Shall be rated and pay as those within A mile and quarter: all 
wayes prouided that such childrin be taken care of, so that they shall 
be Sufitiantly taught to read and wright. 

"6 that the one halfe of tne Schoole charge Shall be raised upon the 
heads of the children according to those rules of proportion mentioned 
above. ' ' S2 

The principle of equalization for studies and for distance at 
the basis of this method is simple and just enough but one of 
the concrete instances is rather puzzling. Why were those chil- 
dren who lived at the greatest distance obliged when they at- 
tended school to pay the same tuition as did those who lived 
nearest? The only explanation that offers itself, is that on 
account of the distance and the danger only the older children 
were able to attend school and that they were " gramer Schol- 
ors." So far as the younger children were concerned it was an 
excellent method to keep them at home. 

Besides this attempt at equalization two further points should 
be noted. It is implied in the fifth section that all children 
except those living beyond the two and a half mile limit are 
rated whether attending school or not ; and that all children 
shall either at home or at school be taught to read and write. 
This method of rating all estates for one-half the school charges 
and combining with this a compulsory tuition charge whether 
children were in attendance or not was a long step toward com- 
plete support by taxation alone. Taxation of those who lived 
at such a distance that their younger children could have no 
advantage of the school was no doubt influential in bringing about 
the moving school and later the school district. 

In 1691, it was decided that a return be made to the method 
of '51, that is, a fixed charge on each boy between 4 and 14 
and the remainder to be raised on estates. 33 This continued 
until 1694 when the following resolution was passed : 

"It being then proposed to the town whither the one half part of the 
Salary for the maintinance of the Schoole Shall be upon the parents or 

32 Ibid., Vol. V., 164. 

33 Ibid., Vol. V., 192. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 47 

masters of Such male childrn as live within three miles of the meeting 
house or there abouts of the agg of seuen years & under twelve years old 
for this present assessment. This was voted in the afermative. 

"It being further proposed to the Town whither the other half part 
of the above mentioned sum shall be levied upon estates only and no 
part of it upon heads this was also voted in the afirmative." 34 

Later in the same year it was : " Also proposed to the Town 
whither thay will raise maintinance for the Schoole only upon 
persons and estates of the inhabitants, this was voted in the 
affirmative." 35 As there are no records showing a change from 
this method of support by general taxation we may conclude 
that from 1694 on, the children of the town of Dedham were 
free from tuition charges as they were during the first seven 
years of the school's history. 

School history in the town of Dorchester begins with this 
record : 

"It is ordered the 20th of May 1639, that there shall be a rent of 20 
pounds yeerely foreuer imposed vpon Tomsons Hand to bee payd p'euy 
p'son that hath p'prtie in the said Hand according to the p 'portion that 
any such p'son shall fro tyme to tyme injoy and posess there, and this 
towards the mayntenace of a schoole in Dorchestr this rent of 20 pounds 
yeerly to bee payd to such a schoolemaster as shall undertake to teach 
english Latin and other tongues, and also writing the sayd schoolemaster 
to be chosen fro tyme to tyme p'the freemen and that is left to the dis- 
cretion of the elders and the 7 men for the tyme being whether maydes 
shalbe taught with the boys or not. For the levying this 20 pounds 
yeerely fro the p'ticuler p'sons that ought to pay that according to this 
order. It is further agreed that some man shallbe appointed p'the 7 
men for the tyme being to Recuie that and on refusall to levye that 
p'distresse, and not finding distresse, such person as so refuseth payment 
shall forfeit the land he has in p'prietie in the sayd Hand." 36 

Nothing is said in this resolution concerning tuition and it is 
evident from what we know about the salaries of the early 
schoolmasters that this rent of 20 pounds would have met all 
the financial needs of the school. There was trouble, however, in 
the collection of the rent as is shown by the following: 

"Whereas the Inhabitants of Dorchester haue formerly consented and 
agreed that a Rate of Twentie pound p' annum shall issue and be payd 
by the sayd Inhabitants and their heires from and out of a certain porcon 
of land in Dorchester Called Tomsons Hand for and towards the main- 

34 Ibid., 226. 

35 Ibid., 209. 

36 Fourth Report of the Boston Record Commissioners, 39. 



48 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 



830 ■ 



450- 



lit- 



Bed ham 



province rztQ. 



churcK •• 

town, •• 

—___—. school expenses. 




1643 ! J3 to t5 70 73 W ^ TO 1Z W 



Reference to payment of the minister comes comparatively late in Dedham. The 
beginning of the curve showing church expenses marks the building of a church. The 
first increase in the province rate was due to King Philip's War and the second, in 1700, to 
King William's War. The effect of the former on town and school expenses is clearly 
shown by the fall in the respective curves; it seems to have had no effect on church expenses. 
It will be observed in these charts that the various curves keep the same relative position; 
the main item of expense being the support of the ministry, then the province rate, then 
town expenses, and, lastly, the support of the school. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 49 

enance of a schoole in Dorchester aforsayd. And that upon experience 
it is found to be a matter of great labor and difficulty to collect the said 
rent from soe many severall p'sons that haue title to land in sayd Hand 
and who therefore ought to pay the sayd rent beinge noe lesse in number 

than six score or thereaboute It is heerby ordered and all the 

present Inhabitants of Dorchester aforesayd Whose names are heervnto 
subscribed doe for themseules a and there heires heerby Covenant con- 
sent and agree that from hence forth the sayd Hand and all the benefill 
and prfitts thereof and all there right and Interest in he same shalbe 
wholyand foreuer bequeathed nd given away from themselues and their 
heires" vnto the Town of Dorchester aforesayd for and towards the main- 
tenance of a free schoole in Dorchester aforsayd for the Instructinge 
and Teaching of Children and youth in good literature and Learningc. " 3T 

A committee was appointed and the Island put out for rent 
but whatever the revenue may have been the town did not long 
enjoy it, as the General Court revoked its grant to Dorchester 
and gave title to John Tomson upon his presenting proof that 
his father settled the Island in 1626. 

In 1645, an elaborate code of rules and provisions covering all 
school matters was put in practice. By the first provision three 
men were chosen for life to act as wardens of the school. 

"Secondlie, the said Wardens shall haue full power to dispose of the 
Schoole stock whether the same bee in land or otherwyse, bothe such 
as is already in beeing and such as may by any means hereafter added : 
and shall collect and Receiue the Rents, Issues and p'fitts arising and 
growing from sayd stock, And the sayd rents Issues and p'fitts shall 
lay out and imply only for the best behoof and aduantage of the sayd 
schoole; and the furtherance of learning thereby, and shall giveafaythfull 
and true accoumpt of there receipts and disbursements so often as they 
shalbe therunto required by the Inhabitants or the maior p'te of them. 

' ' Fowerthly so often as the sayd Schoole shallbe supplied with a 
Schoolemr — so p'vided and admitted, as aforesayd the wardens shall 
fro tyme to tyme pay or cause to be payd vnto the said Schoolmr such 
wages out of the Rents, Issues and p'fitts of the Schoole stock as shall 
of right come due to be payd. 

' ' Fiuethly the sayd Wardens shall from tyme to tyme see that the 
Schoole howse be kept in good and sufficient repayre, the Chargs of 
whaich reparcion shalbe defrayed and payd out of such rents, Issues 
and p'fitts of the Schoole stocke, if there be sufficient or else of such 
rents as shall arise and grow in the time of the vacancy of the Schoolemr 
— if there be any such and in defect of such vacancy the wardens shall 
repayre to the 7 men of the Towne for the tyme beeing who shall haue 
power to tax the Towne for such some or sommes as shallbe requisite 
for the repayring of the School howse as aforesayd. 

37 Ibid., 104-5. 



50 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

"Sixthly the sayd Wardens shall take care that euy yeere at or before 
the end of the 9th moneth their bee brought to the School howse 12 
sufficient Cart, or wayne loads of wood for fewell to be for the vse of the 
Schoole master and the Schollers in winter the Cost and Charge of which 
sayd wood to bee borne by the Schoolers for the tyme being who shalbe 
taxed for the purpose at the discretion of the Wardens. 

'Lastlv the sayd Wardens shall take care that the Schoolemr for the 
tyme oeing doe faythfully p 'forme his dutye in his place as schoolmrs 
ought to doe as well in other things as in those whic are hereafter ex- 
pressed, viz. 

"5ly hee shall equally and impartially receiue, and instruct such as 
shalbe sent and Comitted to him for that end whither their parents bee 
poore or rich not refusinge any who haue Right and Interest in the 
Schoole." 38 

In a code of school procedure which goes into the minutest 
details it seems improbable that so important an item as tuition 
rates or the giving of power to the wardens to make a general 
levy on the inhabitants for school support would have been 
omitted had either method been in mind. As we know from the 
records that the income from Tompson's Island was insufficient, 
the balance of the master's salary was in all probability made 
up by contributions from public spirited citizens or by the 
inhabitants as a whole. 

It is not until 1651 that we find further record of the school 
and this may in part at least be explained by the following: 

"For as much as at the last Genall meeting the day and year aboue- 
said (28-9-'53)their was offence taken that the Record of the disburse- 
ments of the towne rates for the yeare 52 and 53 was not so punctuall 
as was desired and conseived to be the neglect of the Select men then a 
being which som of us confesse might haue been more playne had it been 
minded; a greater fait would it haue ben if their had ben no record at 
all, as in the yeares 45 : 47 : 48 : the is none in the book to be found." 3 ' 

It is quite possible that the omissions may have extended to 
the acts of the town or to the wardens of the school for the 
following acts of the town bear the date 1651 and indicate pre- 
vious action of which there is no record. 

"The 4th of June 1651 It was noted at a town meeting that the select 
men together with Mr Jones and Deacon Wiswall should forthwith treate 
and agree with Mr henry Butler for to teach schoole in dorchester which 
was accordingly agreed on as it is at the end of the booke showed the 



38 Ibid., 64-5. 
38 Ibid., 317. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 51 

agreement." 40 In February of the same year "Mr. Butler desired that 
the scole rate may be gathered with the towne rate." 41 

A school rate of 30 pounds was levied during the early part 
of the year, which was separate from the other town rates and 
as this method does not occur again for some time it is probable 
that the request was granted. 42 Probably it was more difficult 
to collect a school rate, as such, than to add the amount of the 
master's salary to the town budget. 

Mr. Butler was engaged to teach the school for four months 
of the following year at the rate of 30 pounds per annum and 
was paid from the town rate. 43 

All mention of school matters are dropped completely from 
the records for three years. During the last month of the year 
'55 an agreement was made between the selectmen and Ichabod 
Wiswall to teach the school for a term of three years for twenty- 
five pounds per year, the selectmen agreeing to pay or cause 
the said sum to be paid to the master. 44 The records show that 
the master was paid for his first year's work from the town 
rate 23-3-1 1; for the second year 22-18-6; and for the third 
year a rate for town and school of 30 pounds was levied but 
there is no record of disbursement. As these amounts were paid 
from a rate levied expressly for town and school there can 
be no question that the amounts stated were paid by general 
taxation. With a salary of 25 pounds and the town rate pay- 
ment so closely approximating that amount, it seems improbable 
that there was a tuition charge to make up so small a deficiency. 
It is suggested as a very probable explanation of the manner 
in which the deficiency was met that the master was a resident 
of the town and as his father was a considerable landholder and 
from the records manifestly concerned in the collection of his 
son's salary, without doubt his taxes were turned " on account " 
and the balance paid along from time to time as is indicated 
by a record of disbursement in the year '6i, three years after 
the contract had expired : " It to Thomas Wiswall as remainder 



40 Ibid., 304. 

41 Ibid., 306. 

42 Ibid., 307. 

43 Ibid., 313. 314, 3 r 6- 

44 Ibid., 73-4. 



52 Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 

of his sonnes schoolinge 0-18-6. 45 This indicates that the town 
has settled the 25 pound salary in full. 

It is necessary, however, to take into consideration an item 
of record in the year '58 which directs one of the selectmen 
" to look vpe what notes and papers he hath that concern es 
the accounts of the scollers for the two yeares past 56 : and 57 : 
and bring them to the selectmen." 46 From the preceding facts 
it seems improbable that these accounts could have related to 
tuition charges. The sixth section of the school code of '45 
offers a possible explanation in that the pupils were expected 
to pay for the wood and it is not unreasonable to conceive that 
this section was still in force. At any rate, we can consistently 
hold that these accounts, whatever they may have been for, 
were not tuition charges. 

Without indicating any change in the method of support the 
town in '59 voted to keep a school as in former times and Mr. 
Pole, the new master, was paid 25 pounds from the town rate. 47 
With the exception of the year '69, when the master was hired 
for but two months, school was kept continuously from '59 to '72 
at a standard wage of 25 pounds and this sum was always 
paid from the town rate. There is no record of school or dis- 
bursement for the year '72. In the following year the proposi- 
tion was made and accepted that a schoolmaster be procured and 
as a rate for 50 pounds was made for town and school in the 
early part of '74 it is probable that a master was secured for 
the previous year. In '75 the constable's accounts show an item 
of 20-16-0 as having been paid to the master but as there is 
no report of the second constable's disbursements of his half 
of the rate collected the deficiency is readily accounted for. In 
'76 the master's salary was increased to 30 pounds. In '78 
there is no mention of teacher or wages but a lock was secured 
for the schoolhouse door. Without following details longer we 
may say that, with the exception of three years school was main- 
tained to the year '85, when the printed data with respect to the 
school ends ; and the master was paid from the town rate. 

I have gone into the details of school support in Dorchester 
because it is the one exception to the general rule of develop- 

45 Ibid., 107. 

40 Ibid., 94. 

47 Ibid., 97, 107, in, 115, etc. 



Records of Tozvn Action zmth Respect to School Support 53 



640 



sho- 
rn 

24-0 
210 

160" 

140 
120 
100 
SO 
60 
40 
20 



Dorchester 



province rate. 

church '• 

. ..town ♦» 

.school expenses. 

o o a „ a support of poor. 




V^j l/A: 



-\ -' v w v7- ^ ;: 



*§?} S3 '60 '65 70 T3 "W" 

The first rise in the curve of church support is due to the increased expenditure 
necessitated by hiring an assistant to the pastor; the second rise, in '79, to the 
building of a church; and the last, in '82, to building a house for the pastor. 
The rise in province rate was caused by King Philip's War. From the point 
of view of comparison, it is of interest to note that in 1653 the salaries of magis- 
trates who had served ten years was made £30 and the salary of the Governor 
was set at £120. 



54 Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 

ment. Several other towns, apparently under the influence of 
that clause of the law which allowed taxation of all the inhabi- 
tants for the support of those activities which were for the 
benefit of all, also supported schools soon after the passage of 
the law of '47 by general taxation but such towns soon changed 
to the method of tuition and town rate. Apparently Dorchester 
did not make this change. 

Dudley, organized in 1732, established a school seven years 
later by the following act: 

"Voted by the said Inhabetance to raise twenty pounds of money to 
defray the charges of schooling, the senter of the Town To have thiere 
share of the abovsd money and allso each end of the Town to draw 
thiere proportion of the money and to lay it out in schooling thiere 
children." 48 

The first mention of school matters in the records of Duxbury 
states that the town has been fined five pounds by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions for want of a schoolmaster and that the town 
wishes to hire the money to meet the fine. 49 In the same year, 
1709, a schoolhouse was built in the lower end of the town 
which would indicate a moving school but nothing is said con- 
cerning the method of support until 1734. The record is as 
follows : 

"They also voted that there should be paid of the said town's money 
fifteen pounds one shilling and six pence more than the thirty pounds 
already ordered in full satisfaction to Jonathan Peterson Jr. for his 
services in the said town, as schoolmaster." 50 

One may reasonably infer that the school was supported by 
rate at this time but for how long a period this had been the 
customary method can not be decided from the records. 

In 1 741 occurs the next recorded action that the school is 
free : 

' ' At this town meeting the town voted that the said town should con- 
tinue to stand divided in four parts or quarters according to a former 
vote of the said town, as of said town records may appear, relating to 
the keeping of their school for the term of twenty years next ensuing. 
They also voted that the inhabitants of each of the said quarters respec- 
tively should provide houseroom for the said schoolmaster, while he keeps 
school in their respective quarters, also that the said school shall be a 

48 Town Records of Dudley, 76. 

46 Records of the Town of Duxbury, 206. 

50 Ibid.. 244- 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 55 

free school for the whole town for any of the said inhabitants to send 
their children into any of the above mentioned quarters where the school 
may be kept." 51 

There is no record of any change in method up to 1770 when 
the printed records stop. 

Fitchburg, originally a part of Lunenburg, was organized as 
a town in 1764. In the same year the town voted 

' ' That there be two Scools in sd Town & that mr John Fitch & Kindal 
Boutwell & their neighbors shall have the benefitt of their scoole money 
in order to provide scooling among themselves. 

"Voted that Eight pounds be Raised in order to provide a scool master 
in sd Town." 52 

A schoolmaster was employed in Haverhill in 1661 at a salary 
of 10 pounds per annum to be paid by the town. It is quite 
probable that tuition was charged. The next record with respect 
to the school is of an act in 1670 by which the town agrees to 
give the master ten pounds annually to be rated on the inhabi- 
tants and in addition the master is to have what he and the 
parents may agree upon. In 1673 the annual amount paid by 
the town was " taken off, & no more to be allowed or rated for." 

Nothing further appears on the records until 1685 though the 
Court records show that the town was presented for want of a 
master in 168 1. It is probable that there was no regular school 
during this time. In '85 the selectmen were empowered to hire 
a master provided that they did not agree " to give him on the 
public account more than Four pounds in corn." 

In 171 1 the selectmen were ordered to hire a master who was 
"to move quarterly to such places as the Selectmen agree to, 
as shall be most convenient for the inhabitants of the town." 
But when through inability of the selectmen to secure a teacher 
willing to keep a moving school, a proposition was submitted 
to the town to pay a master five pounds to keep school for a 
quarter at the town schoolhouse it was voted down. As a peti- 
tion was received the following year from inhabitants living at 
some distance asking for a schoolhouse and schooling at the 
town's cost for one quarter per year " that they might have the 
benefit of having their children brought up to learning as well 



Ibid., 270. 

History of the Town of Fitchburg, 7. 



56 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

as the children of those who live in the center of the town," 
the defeat of the proposition of the previous year may well be 
attributed to those who would not have received benefit from 
the money paid to support the central school. The petition was 
granted and from the sources of information at hand there is 
no further mention of tuition charges. 03 

"At a legal meeting of the freeholders and other Inhabitants 
of ye Town of Lunenburg assembled December nth, 1732: 

"It was voted that Coll. John Willard Capt Edward Hartwell and Mr 
Benjamin Goodridge be a Commtte to Provide a School and School- 
master for to teach Children and youth to Read and write & if the Commtte 
See Good to hire a Gramer School master they shall have the liberty 
Provided they pay yr over Plus Charge of what ye keeping of a Gramer 
School would be more yn ye charge of Keeping an English School." 54 

It would seem probable that the school was supported by the 
town so far as the teaching of English was concerned but that 
the community would not tax itself that a few might learn Latin 
at an additional expense. Whether those interested paid the 
" over Plus Charge " or not cannot be determined from the 
records. 

In 1733 a committee was appointed to provide a " Lawfull 
School " at three different places in the town 55 and two months 
later the town " Voted and Granted ye sum of Fourty Pounds 
for ye Charge of a School for ye year past and Present." 56 

The recorded history of schools in the Town of Maiden begins 
with the statement that the town had been presented to the 
Court for want of a school — this was in 1671. 57 No further 
reference to schools is made until '91 when a record states 
that Ezekiel Jenkins continues to be the " Townes Scoule Mas- 
ter." 58 In '99 John Sprague was chosen schoolmaster and it 
was left with the selectmen to give him something for his " in- 
couragment." 59 In 1701 the town was again presented for want 
of a school. 



53 History of Haverhill, Chase, pp. 113, 116, 135, 142, 236-238. 

54 Lunenburg Records, 77. 

55 Ibid., 85. 

56 Ibid.. 86. 

87 The History of Maiden, 601. 
58 Ibid., 602. 
89 Ibid., 602. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 57 

During this period of more than twenty-five years no mention 
is made of the manner of support. It is quite probable that the 
school kept by Jenkins, Sprague, and others was a private and 
not a town school but that the town gave this master of a pri- 
vate school a small sum for his encouragement and thus avoided 
a fine by the Court. 

Following this second presentment the town was stirred to 
action and chose John Sprague " scool-master for ye yeer jnsuing 
To learn Children & youth to Reed and wright and to Refmetick 
according to his best skill. And he js to have ten pounds paid 
him by ye town for his pains. The scool js to be free for all ye 
Inhabitants of ye Town : and to be kept at foure severall places 
at foure severall times one quarter of a yeer jn a place: In 

such places whar those five men shall appoint, namly 

who are chosen by the Town for that purpose." 60 

The following year, '02, the town changed the plan completely. 
Instead of a moving school it was voted to have a fixed school 
to be held at the master's home and instead of a free school 
supported by general taxation it was decided to pay the master 
by rate and tuition. 61 This method prevailed until 1710 when 
the selectmen agreed with Moses Hill " to sarue for the benifit 
of ye scollars," that is, for tuition receipts alone. 62 In less than 
a month the town was presented for not having a grammar school. 
But as the Selectmen proved to the satisfaction of the Court that 
there were but ninety-seven tax-payers the charge was dismissed 
and the Court ordered that the town provide itself with a school- 
master able to teach the children to read and write. 63 

A week later the town hired a master and voted for a moving 
school but for some reason a difference arose about terms. 
During the next month the town made two more attempts to 
engage a master and failed. In November, two months later, 
Samuel Wigglesworth was hired. Before he began his term 
it was voted that the " Schoole shall be kept ye first four months 
jn mr parsons house And then ye Schoole shall be Remoued 
jnto some house Towards ye North end of The Town ye othar 



80 Ibid., 602. 
61 Ibid., 603. 
"Ibid., 603. 
83 Ibid., 606. 



58 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

Two months." 64 A town rate was made the following February 
and there is no record of further tuition charges. 

The first schoolmaster in Newbury was employed in 1639 and 
received for encouragement in his work four acres of upland and 
six acres of salt marsh. The records throw no further light on 
the method of support until 1652 when it was voted by the major 
part of the town " that here should be a convenient house built 
for the school. There was also voted that there should be 
twenty pounds a yeare allowed for to maintain a schoolmaster 
out of the Towne rate." 

In the following year 

"There was ordered & voted that the towne should by an equall pro- 
portion according to mens estates by way of rates pay foure and twenty 
pounds by,the yeare to maintain a free schoole to be kept at the meeting 
house & the master to teach all such inhabitants children as shall be sent 
to him so soon as they know their letters & begin to read." 

No further record occurs until 1675. During this time the 
method of support is uncertain as the town records for a number 
of the intervening years have been destroyed. The record re- 
ferred to is as follows : 

"That whereas the Law requires that our Towne should maintaine 
a Grammer schoole & a schoole master to teach to recite & read, the 
Selectmen agreed with Henry Short to be the schoolmaster and to have 
for this first halfe yeare five pounds to be paid out of the Towne Rate 
and to have sixpence a week for every scholar." 

By 1677 the town had raised its proportion of the salary to 
twenty pounds. 

In 1687 though the method of support was the same the salary 
of the master, not including tuition, was cut from thirty to 
twenty pounds and five pounds given to each of the two ends 
of the town for the instruction of the children in reading, writ- 
ing, and ciphering. This indicates a dissatisfaction on the part 
of the outlying districts with their opportunities for schooling. 

In 1689 the master was paid twenty pounds and no mention 
is made of disbursement to the " ends." Two years later the 
salary was made thirty pounds once more but " readers " were 
free and the school was held at three places in the town during 
the year. This would seem to be a concession in order that the 

64 Ibid., 609. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 59 

community vote for the increase of the master's salary. By 
1694, at least, the school had ceased to move and in 1695 the 
master taught a fixed school and received thirty pounds from 
the town together with the benefit of scholars. The following 
year the town voted to " give to him the said Mr. Nicholas 
Webster thirty pounds for one year in country pay provided 
he demand but four pence per weeke for Lattin schollers and 
teach all the Towns children that come to him to read write & 
cipher freely without pay." 65 

After 1697 there is no record indicating tuition charges; a 
moving school was established in 1702. 

The town of Northampton in 1663 began the support of the 
town school by voting six pounds from the rates and whatever 
tuition charges might be collected from those attending school — 
this was to cover the cost for six months. 66 For the three years 
following there is no mention of a school, but in '66 

' ' It was agreed and vote that William Jeanes was hired by the Towne 
to teach schoole one yeare, and for his encouragement and satisfaction 
for his attendance vpon that worke the Towne and himself came to this 
conclusion and Agreement. 

itly Impr for the yeare hee is to haue out of the Towne stock Tenn 
pounds wch the Townesmen promise to pay. 

2ly ffowre pence pr weeke for such as are in the primer & other English 
bookes. 

3. Six pence pr weeke to learne the Accidence wrighting Casting 
Accounts. 

4. In case ther be a neglect yt they doe not come constant 3 days 
shalbe a counted as a weeke." 67 

In 1676 it was voted to " giue Mr. (Joseph) Hawly An Invi- 
tation to teach schole in his Towne on the same conditions or 
termes as formerly." 6S According to Hawley's account book 
these conditions were a fixed tuition charge per week and supply 
from the town instead of a fixed sum as agreed upon in '63 
and '66. In '84 a similar agreement was entered upon with Haw- 
ley and with the same method of support. 69 

In 1693 it was voted " to giue forty pounds per yeer for A 
Schoolemaster that misrht be attained fit for that worke and the 



65 History of Newbury, Currier, 395-412. 

66 History of Northampton, 142. 

67 Ibid., 191. 

68 Ibid., 194. 

69 Ibid., 383. 



60 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

aboue said sum of forty pounds they Agree to pay for one yeare 
And the Scholers to go free." 70 This measure met with consid- 
erable opposition and another town meeting was called to recon- 
sider the matter. The vote was again in favor of support by 
general taxation and the time limit was made twenty years instead 
of one year. 71 

Palmer was late in establishing a school. In 1750 it was pro- 
posed to grant money for a school but the resolution was lost. 
A similar motion was made the following year with the same re- 
sult. In 1752 it was voted to have the school kept in the four 
quarters of the town ; money for the support of the school to 
be raised by rate and apportioned to each quarter. This meas- 
ure passed and annual grants are recorded from '52 on. 72 

The recorded action of the town of Plymouth during the 17th 
century with respect to schools is very meager. The first men- 
tion made of a schoolmaster occurs in 1670 when " John Morton 
proffred to teach the children and youth of the town to Read 
and write and Cast acounts on reasonable considerations." 73 No 
action was taken on the part of the town with respect to pay- 
ment and it is quite probable that the school was maintained 
wholly by tuition. 

Not until 1693 is there another record pertaining to the school 
at which time 

"The Inhabitants of sd Towne voted that the Selectmen of sd Towne 
should Indeavor to get a schoolmaster to teach Childerne to Reade and 
write & the Inhabitants will take care to defray the Charge thereof." 74 

As it was the inhabitants who passed the measure and the in- 
habitants who agreed to defray the charge it is possible that the 
schoolmaster, if secured, was supported by a general levy but 
it can not be decided definitely. 

In 1696 the town voted to have a moving school to be held 
in the four quarters of the town and "Agred upon the Raising 
of Money for the defrayinge the town Charges which is as fol- 



70 Ibid., 426. 

71 Ibid., 427. 

72 History of Palmer, 285-89. 

73 Records of the Town of Plymouth, Vol. I., 115. 

74 Ibid., 224. 



Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 61 

loweth Imprimis for the scoolemaster 33-00-0." 75 This, of course, 
means that the salary of the master was paid by the town. 
In 1699 a change in method was made by the following action: 

"Voted that the selectmen should take care to provide A schoole 
Master for the Town with all conveniant sped & should settle him as 
neere the senter of the Towne as may be with Conveniency & that every 
scollar that comes to wright or syfer or to learn latten shall pay 3 pence 
per week if to read only to pay 3 half pence per weke to be paid by their 
Masters or parents & what shall remain due to sd scole to be levied by 
Rate on the whole Inhabitants in there Just and Equal proportion." 76 

An item of 13 pounds in the list of town expenses for 1703 
shows that the tuition and supply method still continued. 77 
In 1704 

"Itt was votted by ye Inhabitants That there should be a Grammer 
Scole Master provided for ye use of ye Towne for ye yeare insuinge 
which shall be settled in the Senter of the Towne. . . .votted That There 
shall be a Rate made upon ye Inhabitants of ye Towne to Defray ye 
Charge Thereof." 78 

As the town was poor and had been recently presented for 
want of a grammar school it is possible that the town could 
maintain a school in no other way at the time which may account 
for the change in method of support. 

In the following year another plan was put in operation prob- 
ably through the influence of some of the inhabitants living near 
the center of the town combined with the unwillingness of those 
who lived at a distance to pay full rate. 

' ' And wheareas sundry of the Inhabitants have subscribed themselves 
To become bound to pay Twenty pounds per year Towards the support 
of a Schoole in ye town for the next 7 years erisuinge beginning in October 
next ensuinge this date provided that a scoole Master be provided & 
settled nere about or within 40 rod of the old meeting house in sd Town 
& that sd Town pay 20 pounds per yeare during sd time of 7 years & all 
children sent to sd school excepting ye shildren of sd subscribers yt is to 
become bound to pay ye 20 pounds as aforesd That lives within one mile 
of sd school shall pay 4 pence per week for latten writing or sifering & 
2 pence per week for reading & all those yt are without ye bounds of 
one mile & within the bounds of two miles to pay 2 pence per week for 
latten writing or sifering & one peney for Reading Excepting the Children 

75 Ibid., 246. 

76 Ibid., 270. 
"Ibid., 316. 
78 Ibid., 319. 



62 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

of such as through poverty are rendered oncapable to pay theire Children 
to gos to school free and all without the bounds of two miles to Com free 
& all fines yt are by Law devoted towards the support of the scole & the 
money to paid by the week as aforsd to be improved towards paying ye 
Towns part of sd 20 pounds & ye subscribers to have noe benifit theby." 7 * 

At the expiration of the contract this method was continued 
for a further term of four years. 80 

In 1716 three schools were set up for the term of five years 
and supported by the rent of town lands, the income from lands 
sold or to be sold, and the remainder to be made up by taxing 
the inhabitants. 81 No further record of tuition charges appear 
after this time. 

The first schoolmaster in the town of Salem began his duties 
in 1637; nothing is said concerning the method of payment and 
there is no further mention of school matters until 1644 when 
it was ordered 

"That a note be published one the next lecture day that such as have 
children to be kept at school, would bring in their names and what they 
will give for one whole yeare and, also, that if any poore body hath 
children or a childe, to be put to schoole and not able to pay for their 
schooling, that the towne will pay it by a rate." 

This put the support of the school on practically a tuition basis. 

Not until 1670 is there any indication of a change in the 
method of support. In April of that year the selectmen were 
ordered by the town to provide a grammar schoolmaster and 
agree with him for his maintenance. By the terms of the agree- 
ment he was to have 20 pounds a year from the town " besides 
halfe pay for all scollers of the town and whole pay from stran- 
gers." This method continued in force to 1677 when it was 
voted by the town 

" Yt Mr. Daniell Epps is called to bee a grammar schoolmaster for ye 
towne, soe long as hee shall continue and performe ye said place in ye 
towne prouided hee may haue wt shall bee annually allowed him, not by 
a towne rate, but in some other suteable way." 

The " suteable way " decided upon was a tuition charge of 
20 shillings per scholar and the remainder of the 60 pound salary 
to be made up by the town. This balance, however, was not 



79 Ibid., II., 2. 

80 Ibid., 72. 

81 Ibid., 169, 170. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 63 

raised by rate but taken from the rent of certain commons and 
islands. 

This year, 1678, marks the beginning of a series of gifts to 
the Salem school by members of the Brown family. The income 
from these gifts, from the commons, and from islands belonging 
to the town was sufficient, with a moderate tuition charge, to 
maintain the school. The following is a sample of the income 
from the above sources for the year 1700: 

Interest on J. Brown's legacy of 50 pounds 3 — 00 — o 

Interest on Wm. Brown's legacy of 50 pounds 3 — 00 — o 

Ryall Side 22 — 5 — 6 

Baker's Island 3 — 00 — o 

Misery Islands 3 — 00 — o 

Beverly Ferry 6 — 00 — o 

Marblehead Ferry 18 — o 



41— 3—6 

During the next thirty-five years 798 pounds were bequeathed 
by various persons to the use of the Salem schools and no town 
rate was levied from 1670 or a few years later until 1734. 
This rate was levied under pressure of an outlying district which 
wished to be set off from town in order that it might have power 
to raise money to support a school of its own. The town 
decided to " raise by a tax so much with the annual income, 
appropriated to the Grammar and Writing schools, as shall 
amount to 250 pounds, exclusive of the bequests of particular 
gentlemen, and that the middle precinct, Ryall Side and the Vil- 
lage shall draw from this sum according to their Province tax." 
Varying tuition rates made up the balance necessary to support 
the schools and during the period covered by this study the Salem 
schools were not entirely free as we understand the term. 82 

The first action in Springfield with respect to the school was 
taken in 1677 and was as follows: 

" Further ye admittance & entertainment of Wm Maddison as a School- 
master was voted, he being to take three pence for those he teaches 
only to read English, & four pence P week for those he teaches to read 
& write, as also four pence for those he teaches only to write, & the 
Parents or persons are to allow no more ; But the town for this year as a 



82 Annals of Salem, Felt, Vol. I., 426-452. 



64 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

Encouragement to him in this work do agree & promise to alow him ye 
rent of ye Towne land in Chickuppi." 83 

The following year a change was made from support by 
tuition and rent to tuition and supply by the following resolution : 

"It was voted and concluded to give Mr Daniel Denton twenty pounds 
salary for his encouragement in the worke of a Schoolmaster for the 
present year he continuing in that worke ye term of a whole year or in 
case It should so fall out yt mr Denton attend not that worke the winter 
season, then the vote of the Inhabitants was to give him twelve pounds, 
& to allow him time to plant & dress two acres of Indian Corn, in case he 
cannot provide for it to be done for him for his money. In this worke 
ye Parents & Masters of such as send yr children or servants being to 
allow to ye Towne according to ye manner of their allowance to ye School- 
master the yeer past." 84 

No record of change in method is found until 1692 when the 
town 

' ' Voted and agreed that al Children fro five yers old to Ten yeers old 
Compleate shal be by their Parents Sent to Schoole, & if not their Par- 
ents shal Pay or be rated for al such Children to the Schoolmaster, as if 
such children were sent by yr Parents or master." 85 

A change from tuition and rate to tuition and supply was made 
in '98. The town voted that " mr. Joseph Smith keep scoole 
till the 14th of January next ensuing and those scholers as have 
gone to him to scoole pay towards it and the rest the Towne 
pay." 86 

In 1706, without being authorized by the town, the Assessors 
raised a school rate on polls and estates " without Laying of 
payment on the Scholars that come to schoole." 87 Eleven days 
after the Selectmen had notified the town of this action a meet- 
ing was called and it 

"Was put to vote whether the Schoolmasters dues should be raised 
on the Towns Poles and Estates without Laying anything on the Scholars, 
& ye vote was for ye Negative. It being declared that the scholars 
paying three pence P weeke, the dues by reason of that way would be 
Sixteen pounds Sixteen shillings & Six pence & then it was put to vote 
that whether the sd 1 6-1 6-6 should be layed on the Scholars & the vote 
for the affirmative part. Then it was declared that the charge for school- 



83 First Century of the History of Springfield, Vol. I., 131. 

84 Ibid., 137. 

85 Ibid., Vol. II., 205. 

86 Ibid., 350. 

87 Ibid., 372. 



Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 65 

ing besides the proportion for scholars and the rent of the school lands 
would be 10-18-6 & then it was put to vote whether to raise sd sum on 
the Towne yt is the Towns Poles & Estates & ye vote was for the affirma- 
tive." 88 

It is evident that there was a decided difference of opinion 
among the townsmen with respect to the above resolution and 
the following year the matter was presented to the Court of 
Quarter Sessions for a ruling. The statement to the Court was 
as follows : 

"In as much as the Law of the Province obliges this Town to keep & 
maintain a Gramer School writing school and reading school & that 
the Schoolmaster be suitably Incouraged & paid by the Inhabitants 
of sd Town, Now for ye better support of ye sd School & Incouragement 
of Learning, It is agreed and voted that the Parents & Masters of every 
scholar going to sd School shal pay three pence P weeke in Town Pay, 
& for the enabling the Town to recover such dues for each scholar, It is 
agreed that the Schoolmaster that shall be hired from time to time shall 
keep an Exact account of the Time of each Scholar comeing to sd School, 
& leaving sd School, & upon demand of the Selectmen, such Schoolmaster 
shall deliver to sd Selectmen under his hand an account of the scholars 
as aforsd, and the Selectmen or the Assessors from time to time are hereby 
ordered and empowered to assess the sums upon the parents & Master 
of sd Scholars & to affixe or adde the sd sums to their Town rates that 
shall be granted from time to time by the Town, for assessing and raising 
such further sums for Completing the Schoolmasters ful dues that shall 
be due him, and it is further ordered and agreed that the Selectmen 
consider who are such children or scholars as to be priveleged, & that sd 
Selectmen do exempt their Parents & Masters from paying for such 
children going to schoole In whole or in part." 89 

Later in the month " the Justices of the Peace at sd sessions 
did determine the sd schoolmasters dues to be paid as the other 
Town charges are paid " i. e. by rate. 90 This decision was given 
in July. In February of the same year, 1707. 

"It was voted to allow the schoolmaster mr David Parsons pay for 
three quarters of a yeer & wt the Townes Land fals short of satisfying 
Together with the scholars pay, that the same be assessed on the inhabi- 
tants." 91 

It is evident from this that the town did not abide by the 
decision of the Court and that the method outlined in the peti- 
tion, tuition and supply, still continued in force. 

88 Ibid., 373. 

89 Ibid., 74. 

90 Ibid., 375. 

91 Ibid., 376. 



66 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

By 1713 the minority opinion expressed six years previously 
became stronger and the Selectmen were ordered by the town 
to present to the General Court the following question : " whether 
the Charge Arising for the School be to be levied on ye Inhabi- 
tants as the Province Charge or whether a part on the schol- 
lers." 92 The decision is not recorded but from the following 
record, six months later, one may conclude that the decision was 
identical with that given by the inferior court some years before 
and that there was now a majority to enforce the new method. 
The record is: 

"It was voted to Raise fourty pounds in Town pay for mr John Sher-. 
man for his keeping the school there was also granted Three pounds & 
Ten shillings for Danell Coolys Dauhter Keeping school There was 
also Granted ffiveteen pounds in money or Corne at money price for mr 
Nathanell Downing for his keeping school " 93 

From this time on, yearly grants were made which show clearly 
that the schools were supported by general taxation. 

The first school mentioned in the Tisbury Records is a mov- 
ing school held at three different places but no record is made 
of the method of support. 94 The following year, 1738, the town 

"Voted that ye sum of Sixty five pounds in Money of the old Tener 
be raised upon the ratable polls and Ratable Estates &c of ye Inhabitants 
of ye Town of Tisbury & Districts thereof and that a List thereof be 
made by the assessors or selectmen of Tisbury & Committed to the 
Constable or Collector of sd town with a warrant to collect the same." 91 

It is probable that the school was supported by general taxa- 
tion during the previous year, if there was a school. 

Pelham began with a moving school in 1746, the town enacting 
as follows : 

"It was Voted that there be Thirty Six Pounds Raised to Pay a School 
Master for keeping School. 

"Voted that there be a School in ye town ye Six Months Insuing. 

"Voted that the School be kept Sixtmonths at the Meeting house & 
two months at Ephriam Cowans & two months at Alexander Cushings. ' ' 98 

The school continued to be supported by general taxation. 



92 Ibid., 391. 

93 Ibid., 392. 

' 4 Records of the Town of Tisbury, 10 1. 

95 Ibid., 106. 

58 History of Pelham, 224. 



Records of Tozvn Action with Respect to School Support 67 
8S0r 



550 



580" 



300- 

280 



no 



100 

so 



Watertown 



province rate. 

— church •• 

town 

^—.school expenses. 



s 1 



Mi 



. ,1 ►v. 



<s«- / Wv x / v 



/■Wl L 



4-0 
20- 



-X 



1632 W "65 70 T5 ! 80 *55 W ; S5^ 

The record of church support in Watertown begins with the payment of the 
two pastors by rate and the building of a church to be paid for in three install- 
ments. Beginning with 1685 but one pastor was employed. Another church 
was built in '94. Both war rates are here shown and at the time these rates 
were levied we notice a decrease in the master's salary and a break in the con- 
tinuity of the school. 



68 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

The records of school matters in Watertown begin in 1649 
with an order by the town for the building of a schoolhouse. 97 
Three months later at a meeting of the selectmen it was 

"agreed that John Sherman Shall wright a letter: in the Townes name: 
vnto Dauid Mechell of Stamfourth to Certify to him : the Townes desier 
of him; to come and keepe School in the towne." 88 

There is nothing in the records to indicate that a teacher was 
employed, however, until 1650; then at general town meeting, 

"It was voted and agreed apon that Mr Rich: Norcrosse was Chosen 
Schoole master, for the teaching of Chilldren to Reed & write & soe 
much of Lattin, according to an Order of the Courtt, as allso if any of the 
sd towne, haue any maidens, yt haue a desire to learne to write yt the sd 
Richard should attend them for the Learning off them; as allso yt he 
teace such as desire to Cast accompt, and yt the towne did pmise to al- 
lowe the sd Rich; for his imployment thirty pounds for this yeare." 99 

On the next day, January 7, '50, at a meeting of the selectmen 
it was 

"ordered, and agreed, that Mr Rich Norcrosse doth intend to begin 
his imployment for the teaching of the young ones of the towne and 
attend to it, at the meeting house the next day and further it is agreed, 
yt for his pay he is to haue it, at two seuerall times, the first at or apon 
the 29th of the 8th month -(51) and the other pay apon the 12th of the 
nth month (51)." 100 

The allowance of thirty pounds on the part of the town was 
probably only in the nature of an agreement and did not signify 
that the amount was to be paid by rate. Mr. Norcross was an in- 
habitant of the town and as shown by the selectmen's record 
quoted above was expected to begin a few days after his en- 
gagement and teach during the year, yet in the list of town 
debts under date of January 19th, '51, the following item appears 
" Due to Mr. Norcros for his yeares seruice last past 12-00-0." 101 
No other record of payment for the first year of service appears. 
It is quite probable that some system of tuition and supply 
similar or identical with that which went into effect January 
1 2th, '51, was used during the previous year. 



97 Watertown Records, Vol. I., J 8- 

98 Ibid., 18. 
"Ibid., 21. 

100 Ibid., 22. 

101 Ibid., 28. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 69 

The agreement mentioned as taking effect in '51 is as follows: 

"A General Towne meeting 

An agreement Betwene the 

Towne and mr Richard Norcros 
That mr Richard Norcros shall attend the keeping of aschoole Within 
the Bounds of Wattertowne where the Towne shal appoynt, That he 
shall vse his best Indeauer to instruct all such psons as shall be sent vnto 
him in Inglish writeing or Latten according to the Capassity of the psons 
and that it is in the Li(berty) of any Inhabytant to send his sonnes or 
seruant for a weeke or two and to take them away again at his pleasure, 
and therefore the said Mr Norcros is to keepe a strict accounte of the 
nomber of weekes that euery one Dooth Continew, And that euery pson 
that learneth Inglish only shall pay 3d a weeke and such as write or 
Lattin shall pay 4d and that Mr Norcros is to giue notice to the pertickler 
parents of theyr Just Due according to this order and If any pson shall 
neglect to bring vnto his house his full due by the 29 of the 8th month 
in 52 that then he shall bring anote of the names and the sum of theyr 
debt vnto the 7 men who are hearby required to take some speedy Course 
to ( ) him to his due 

And for the other halfe yeares pay hee is to take the same Course and 
what the ptickelers Doe want of the full som of 30 pounds the towne 
Dooth hearby ingage to make a supply." 102 

This method of tuition and supply continued in force until 
1667 with an addition of 3 pounds as a gratuity to the master's 
salary in '53 " for those scollers that Com from other townes 
and the rest to return to the vse of the towne." 103 Mention is 
frequently made of tuition charges on children whose parents 
did not live in the town but it is not possible to trace the amount 
received from such sources. 

As was mentioned above, the year 1667 marks another change 
in the method of support and for the first time the school is 
free to those who have " right and interest " in it. At the gen- 
eral town meeting it was agreed 

"with Mr Norcross to keepe Schoole for the yeare ensuing: for 30 
pounds : and the towne agreed that the Schoole should be Free to all the 
settled Inhabitanc: Children that thir Freinds hue in other townes; to 
pay as before; and their payment to be deducted out of the 30 pounds; 
and the remaynder to be made vp by Rate." 104 

As no special rate was levied for the school, the master being 
paid from the town rate in a lump sum, it is not possible to 

102 Ibid., 26. 

103 Ibid., 36. 

104 Ibid., 91. 



70 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

tell how much the town realized from the charges on non- 
residents. 

In November 1676, the town instructed the selectmen " to 
agree wth ascoole mastur as chepe as they can " 105 and in the 
following March an agreement was made with Lieut. Sherman 
to keep an English school for twenty pounds a year to be allowed 
him from the town rate. 106 In '79 Norcross was again hired 
at a salary of twenty-five pounds and both Latin and English 
were taught. 107 He was evidently succeeded after a year or so 
by some one who taught no Latin and thus the town incurred 
the displeasure of the Court for Norcross was hired again in 
'81 for twenty-five pounds with the " benifit of the latten schoolers 
over and above the said sum " as the parents of such children 
and Mr. Norcross might agree, and the " said Mr. Norcross doe 
Ingage to save ye Town harmless from fine: between this time 
and ye time of his beginning to keepe school : by teaching such 
latten schollers as shall be sent to his house." 108 

In 1686, Latin was again dropped from the course, the salary 
reduced to twenty pounds, and the tuition and supply method 
once more made the means of support. Recognizing that this 
method might make schooling impossible to some children who 
were able to attend when there was no tuition charge but would 
now be barred by the " 3 pens the week for Each Chilld " 
the town 

"Voated Allso that the towne will pay for such Chilldren as thear 
parents are not abell to pay for The select men Being Judges of that 
mattur. ' ' 109 

No further records relating to the school appear until 1690 
and, on the whole, there seems to be a growing lack of interest 
in school matters. Very likely there was little or no schooling 
during this period and the fear of the law was in the land. 
It was in this year voted that the town would have a school kept 
according to law and three men were appointed to make inquiry 
where a person might be found who could keep school. 110 This 

105 Ibid., 127. 

106 Ibid., 129. 

107 Ibid., 137. 

108 Ibid., Vol. II., 9. 
106 Ibid., 28. 

110 Ibid., 39, 40. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 71 

record is of interest also from another point of view as indicat- 
ing the scarcity of men willing or able to teach. The committee 
was unsuccessful and later in the year the town offered fifteen 
pounds towards the master's salary, provided any of the public 
spirited inhabitants could agree with some schoolmaster who 
would keep a school which would satisfy the law. 111 The fol- 
lowing January, about a month later, the following item appears : 

"At ameting of the select men at Caleb Churches to meak the towne 
& Cuntry Reats At this meting the Cummitty sent Nathanel Stone about 
the Scoole mead thear Returne namely that thay had bene with him 
and had agreed with him to ceep the Scoole twenty parsons haueing 
ingaged to him to pay or se him payed ten pounds in mony yt is fifty 
shillings aquarter and allsoo the fiftene pounds granted by the" town at 
the Jenarall town metting nouember 26-1690. " u2 

There is no record of the town's paying the amount promised 
and it is quite probable that no school was kept. In November 
'92, mention is made of the town having been presented to the 
General Court; 113 and one year later the following agreement 
appears : 

"At a mmeting of the select men then agreed with Mr Richard Norcros 
to kepe a grammer school for one yeare the yeare to begin the : 4 : of 
december next & to teach all such scollers as shall be sent to him to 
larne either to rede or wright prouided that the Parance or Masters of 
such Children to pay for theare teaching : inglish at : 3 : pence Per weeke 
& for wrighting : 4 : pence per weeke & for lattin : 6 : pence per weeke 
for each scoller & the scoll to be kept at his owne house vntill the first of 
aprill and then if vppon a monthes triall at the scollhouse theare apeare 
not a consederable quantety of scollers then he has liberty to kepe all the 
yeare at his owne house vntill the first of Aprill and then if vppon a 
monethes trial at the scollhouse theare not a considerable quantety of 
scollers then he has liberty to kepe all the yeare around at his owne house 
& the town to pay him : 5 Pounds in or as money besides each schollers 
proportion by the weeke but if he hath none but Latten schollers then 
mr Norcros to alow ought of his : 5 : pounds what such lattin schollers 
proportion cometh to : and if he findeth scholleres to come in to incurrage 
then he to keepe the scoll at the scollhous from the first of aprill vntill 
the first of October and the remainder of the reare at his owne hous and 
allso to caticise his schollers once a weke and all other Pirsons that are 
sent to him to be caticised." 114 



111 Ibid., 42. 

112 Ibid., 43. 

113 Ibid., 54. 

114 Ibid., 62. 



72 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

From fifteen pounds the town has now dropped to a contribu- 
tion of but five; and there seems in the agreement to be a well 
defined feeling that not many children will take advantage of 
the school. 

Again there is no mention of school activity until '96 when 
from fear of a fine the town was moved to action. At the Decem- 
ber meeting, the selectmen reported to the town that 

"they had treated with mer Edward Goddard on order: to his keeping 
a grammar scool as the Law directs : and his answer was that if the town 
would Repair the schoolhouse: and give him twenty pounds in money 
he would doe the best he could: but the town by a voate declared that 
they would not comply with mer Goddards proposals but by a voate 
Desired Corp John Page & Benja Gearfield to go to the nex quarter 
sessions to pray the Court that it is hopefull that the town will be prouided 
with a scool before the next quarter sessions." 115 

In February of the following year 

"at a general town meeting it was put to uote whether the town would 
haue a gramer scool keept in the scool hous according to law and it passed 
in the negative." 116 

By the end of the week, however, the good citizens of Water- 
town were in a more law-abiding frame of mind and it was 
voted that the town pay ten pounds per year and the remainder 
of the master's salary to be made up by tuition. 117 

Finally in 1701, 

"it was voted by the Inhabitants of Watertown at sd meeting that 
they will have a grammer school as the Law Requiers: and sd school to 
be keept the first qiarter of the year at the old school house: and the 
second quarter of the year in the middle part of the towne in such a 
place as the town shall appoint and the third quarter of the year at the 
old school house : and the fourth quarter of the year in such a place in 
the middle part : as the Inhabitants of the town shall appoint : 2 : voted 
at sd meeting that the farmers precinct for the ministry: paying their 
proportion of twenty pounds with the town shall be freed from any 
further Charge referring to the school for this year: 3: it was voted by 
the Inhabitants at sd meeting that they doe desir mr Ames Angier; to 
keep the school as above said : and the selectmen are desiered & appointed 
to'treat with mr Ames Angier for his acceptance of sd service and if mr 
Angier refuse to keep sd school: then the selectmen are desiered and 
appointed to procure some other meet person to keep sd school ;4; it 

115 Ibid., 109. 
"•Ibid., no. 
117 Ibid., no. 



Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 73 

was voted by the Inhabitants that they doe grant a rate or tax: of thirty 
pounds in mony to pay mr Ames Angier or any other person that shall 
accept and perform sd service:" 118 

Up to the close of the printed records in 1728 no change in 
the method of support by general taxation was made. 
The following table is a general summary of the chapter. 

Settled or First Rec. of Changes in Method Moving or 

Town. Incorporated. Support. of Support. Divided School. 

Boston 1630 1636, v. c 1644, r., t., inc. 

1650 r., ent. m. 

1 75 1, rate. 
Braintree 1634 1668, t., s., inc.. 1681, r., t., inc. 

1700, t., s., inc. 

i,ai 1 7 16, rate 1716, d. s. 

Brookline 1.7.0.5 1687, r., t 1704, rate. 

1705, r., t. 

i7io,rate 1710, m. s. 

Cambridge 1631 1638, t., c 1692, rate . 

Dedham 1635 1644, c 1651, t., s. 

1685, r., t. 

1691, t., s. 

1694, rate 1 7 1 7 , m. s. 

Dorchester 1623 x 639> inc 1645, inc -> c - ■ 

165 1, rate. 

Dudley x 73 2 1 739, rate 1739. d. s. 

Duxbury 1632 x 734> ra te 1740, rn. s. 

Fitchburg 1764 1764, rate 1764, d. s. 

Haverhill 1645 1661, r., t I 673, t. 

1685, r -> t. 

1712, rate 1712, d. s. 

Lunenburg 1728 1732, rate 1 733, m. s. 

Maiden 1649 I 7° I , rate 1702, r., t 1701, m. s. 

1710, t. 

1710, rate., 171°, m. s. 

Newbury 1635 I 639, t., c 1652, rate 1687, d. s. 

1676, r.. t. 

i69i,r.,t. Eng. free 1691, m. s. 

1697, rate I 7°2, m. s, 

Northampton . . 1654 1663, r., t 1676, t., s. 

1693, rate. 

Palmer 1716 1 7$2, rate 1752, m. s. 

Pelham 1738 1746, rate 1746, m. s. 

Plvmouth 1620 z 693, rate 1699, t., s 1696, m. s. 

1704, rate. 

1705, r., t., c. 

1716, rate 1716, d. s. 

118 Ibid., 140, 141. 



74 Records of Town Action with Respect to School Support 

Settled or First Rec. of Changes in Method Moving or 

Town. Incorporated. Support. of Support. Divided School. 

Salem 1626 1644, c, r 1670, r., t. 

1677, inc., t. 

1734, inc., r., t 1734, d. s. 

Springfield 1636 ^77, t., inc. . . .1678, t., s. 

• 1706, r., t. 

i7i3,rate 1713,(3. s. 

Tisbury 1669 1 73 7, rate 1737, m. s. 

Watertown .... 1630 1650, t., s 1667, rate. 

1681, r., t. 

1686, t., s. 

1690, r., c. 

1693, r -» t. 

i7oi,rate 1701, m. s. 

r — rate. 

t — tuition. 

inc — income. 

c — contributions. 

s — supply. 



CHAPTER V 
School Support by General Taxation 

Before taking up the Law of 1647, so wen * known in American 
Educational History, and which marks the next step in school 
legislation by the General Court, it may be well to bring together 
some of the more important conclusions which were arrived at 
in the previous chapters. We have found that the support of 
the poor in England passed through three stages : First the period 
of voluntary contribution, then of compulsory contribution, and 
lastly, the assessment of a general tax ; that the last stage of 
this evolution in method was reached before the colonists came 
to America and hence would form a general background of 
experience which without doubt influenced them when meeting 
like problems in new conditions. We found evidence in the 
general sociological conditions, in the records, and in the Act 
of 1638 to justify the conclusion that the first and last stages 
were present in the development of the support of the town's 
poor in Massachusetts but, as might be expected, from familiarity 
with English methods the support of the poor became an item 
on the civil list some time before the like appearance of min- 
isterial or school support. 

We have shown the close connection between religion and edu- 
cation and presented evidence to show that the support of the 
church also passed through the contribution stages to practically 
unanimous support by taxation in 1660 and, because of this close 
connection, the inference is that the support of the church would 
influence the method of school support to a great degree. 

Finally, the records show that, with respect to school support, 
the contribution stages were present in Boston, Charlestown, 
Dedham, Salem, and there is the highest probability that they 
were present elsewhere. It now remains to show the causes 
which lead up to the last stage — support by general taxation. 

The Act passed by the Court in 1647 ordered 

"that every township in this jurisdiction after the Lord hath increased 
them to the number of fifty house holders, shall then forthwith appoint 
one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to 
write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters 



76 School Support by General Taxation 

of such children, or by the inhabitants in general by way of supply, as 
the major part of those who order the prudentials of the town shall 
appoint; providing, those that send their children be not oppressed by 
paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns; 
and it is forthwith ordered that where any town shall increase to the 
number of 100 families or householders, they shall set up a grammar 
school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may 
be fitted for the university, provided that if any town neglect that per- 
formance hereof above one year, that every such town shall pay 5 pounds 
to the next school till they shall perform this order." 1 

In 1 67 1 the fine was increased to 10, in 1683 to 20, and in 
1 71 2 to 30 pounds on every town of one hundred and fifty and 40 
pounds on towns of two hundred families. 

This law shows advance beyond the law of '42 in that it 
made schools compulsory and made the school a civil instead 
- of a church institution. So far as support is concerned it con- 
tains nothing new but makes an application of the law of 1634 
which made estates and abilities subject to rate for all public 
charges, and of the law of 1638 which made the inhabitants 
liable for all charges from which they might or did receive 
benefit. By authority of the first act a definite school rate, or 
money by way of supply might be levied on the inhabitants ; 
under the second act tuition charges might be made upon all 
children of school age or on such children as attended school. 
These methods being authorized, various combinations of the 
above provisions were made as we found in the records and 
the summary following the preceding chapter. 

The general tendency among the towns following the Act of 
'47 was to use a combination of the principles enunciated in 
the Acts of '34 and '38 rather than to support the school entirely 
by rate or entirely by tuition. We find, however, that Boston 
began the support of its school, with the exception of entry 
money, by rate in 1650; Dorchester supported its school by rate 
in 1651, Newbury in 1652, and Watertown in 1667 — thus follow- 
ing in principle the Act of '34. With the exception of Dor- 
chester and Boston this method did not continue for a great 
length of time and was supplanted by some combination of 
tuition and rate. The method of support by rate being once used, 
the probable explanation of change lies in the objections of wealthy 
tax-payers ; of those who, having no children in school, had little 

1 Mass. Col. Rec, II., 203. 



School Support by General Taxation 77 

or no interest in its support; and to the growing and general 
lack of interest in education. 

There are several reasons why such a condition of affairs 
should have existed. As has been pointed out, the connection 
between education and religion in the early years was very close 
but it was not long before there was a decline in religious motives, 
due in great part to the large number of non-church members 
in the colony and the appearance of a new generation which 
was not actuated by the same motives and ideals as were the 
first settlers. Hence it was no longer the great concern of 
the inhabitants that youth should be raised up to the ministry,; 
they became more and more engrossed with their own personal 
affairs and education did not seem at all necessary to , further 
the clearing of the land or the planting of corn. 

In 1675 the Indian wars began and a little later the expedi- 
tions against the French in Canada increased the burden of taxa- 
tion enormously; this-is shown clearly in the charts of expendi- 
tures for Dedham, Dorchester, and Watertown. Lack of interest 
and lack of money must have tended to reduce salaries, or de- 
crease the length of school term, or both, and parents kept their 
children at home in many instances, without doubt, rather than 
pay the tuition charges. When the reaction set in and the Courts 
became more stringent and alert in presenting and fining towns, 
while at the same time the fines were increased, the above-men- 
tioned conditions were of great importance in the forming of a 
new method of support. 

Another factor to be considered is the settling of the more 
remote sections of the town, considering the church and the 
school as the center. Though the Court passed a law forbidding 
the erection of a dwelling house at a greater distance than one- 
half mile from the meeting-house, 2 in the course of time this 
restriction was necessarily disregarded as population increased. 
The farther removed the home from the center of the town, 
the more difficult it was for the children to attend school for 
the maintenance of which the father was taxed. Naturally he 
wished his children to derive some benefit from his share of 
the money paid for the support of the school and as the number 
of such parents swelled, their negative influence was strongly 



'Mass. Col. Rec, I., 157, 181. 



78 School Support by General Taxation 

felt when the question of voting a town rate for the school 
was presented. Those who sent children from a distance ob- 
jected to paying as large tuition fees as those who lived near 
by the school ; probably some did not send their children at all, 
and on all sides it became more difficult to raise the master's 
salary. 

Briefly, then, towards the close of the 17th century we have 
a general lack of interest in education, more or less financial 
depression, settlements being made farther and farther from the 
center of the town, a loss of the communal spirit, laws making 
schools obligatory, and a well defined tendency on the part of 
those in authority to present and fine such towns as were delin- 
quent in maintaining a school. 

Let us trace the history of school support in a few of the 
towns during the latter part of the 17th and the first of the 18th 
century. The town of Haverhill in 1673 began the policy of 
cutting down the town's contribution by rate to the support of 
the school. This policy evidently continued for a long time and 
from the fact that the town was presented during this time and 
that records of school matters are very few, we may judge that 
a method of support which did not include a general levy on 
the town, was not conducive to the maintenance of a permanent 
school. In 171 1 the selectmen were directed to hire a master 
who should keep school during the year in different parts of 
the town. But when the selectmen found themselves unable to 
hire a teacher under such conditions and suggested that a master 
be hired to teach in the center of the town the townsmen refused 
to vote a tax for the support of such a school. It seems reason- 
able to suppose, since the tax was voted when all the inhabitants 
were to have the benefit of the school, that the second proposi- 
tion was voted down by those who would not receive benefit of 
the school when kept in the center of the town — aided by those 
who had no children to send. In the following year the school 
was divided and the rate granted. 

The first school in Maiden was not a town but a private school 
which received now and then a small sum from the town as an 
" incouragement " and incidentally enabled the town to avoid being 
presented and fined. Evidently the school could not be kept up 
by tuition and small encouragements from the town for in 1701 
there is a record to the effect that the town was presented. The 



School Support by General Taxation 79 

town immediately voted a general levy to maintain a school in 
the four quarters of the town in succession, which gave all an 
equal opportunity to benefit thereby. In the following year 
there was a fixed school supported not by general taxation alone 
but by tuition and supply, thus throwing the burden of support 
on those who sent children to school, i. e., those living in the 
center of the town. This method was used until 171 1 when 
the town decided to hire a master and dispense with the " sup- 
ply." The town was presented within a month. Everything 
points to the fact that there was not a great degree of interest 
in the school but the law demanded that one be maintained. The 
evident price of its maintenance was the ability of all to partici- 
pate in its benefits, for we find, as in 1702, that the general levy 
is granted in return for the moving school. 

Plymouth in 1693 pledged the inhabitants to the support of a 
school ; three years later the town voted for a moving school, 
thus indicating pressure on the part of those living at a dis- 
tance for a share in the school if the rate for school support 
was to be voted. In '99 it was voted that a fixed school be 
maintained by tuition and supply. This method prevailed until 
1716 when three schools were set up and supported once more 
l)y the general levy. 

Watertown in 1676 was supporting its school by general taxa- 
tion but at this time the town instructed the selectmen to hire 
as cheaply as possible. During the next four years, either because 
a school was not regularly maintained or because Latin was not 
taught, the town seems to have incurred the displeasure of the 
Court. In '86 the town levy was cut to twenty pounds and 
tuition was charged. In '90 the town offered to pay 15 pounds 
if some of the public spirited inhabitants would make up the 
balance sufficient to hire a teacher and thus satisfy the law. This 
scheme evidently did not work well for in '92 the town was 
again presented for want of a school. The following year the 
town voted to give the master 5 pounds and tuition, though it 
is evident from the record that it was not expected that many 
children would attend. Sometime between '93 and '96 the town 
was in trouble again with the Court. The town, having refused 
the offer of a master to teach for 20 pounds, sent a committee 
to the Court to inform that body that the town was expecting 
to secure a master soon. A master was hired for 10 pounds a 



80 School Support by General Taxation 

year and tuition. All this shows the lack of vital interest in 
education that has been previously mentioned and the failure of 
the methods of support indicated above to maintain a permanent 
school. In 1701 the town voted to support the school by general 
taxation and hold it in two places during the year. After this 
action there was no further trouble with the Court. 

We see now from the records of these four towns, which are 
typical, what the effect of the lack of interest in education was — 
reduction of the town's contribution to the master's salary; a 
well defined tendency to place the burden of support on those 
who sent children to school ; the consequent falling off in attend- 
ance; periods when no school was kept; and warning and fines 
by the Court. In short, the method of tuition and supply had 
become inadequate to maintain a school. On the other hand we have 
the absolute necessity of maintaining a school or being mulcted 
by the Court, and also a considerable number of inhabitants 
whose children could receive no benefit from a fixed school and 
who would therefore be decidedly in favor of allowing those who 
received the benefit of the school to support it or help to sup- 
port it by payment of tuition. It was out of these conditions 
that the moving, and the divided school took its rise. The price 
which was paid for the voting of a general tax by which the 
school might be supported, beyond question, was, as we have seen, 
an opportunity for all the children of the town to attend school. 
Hence it must move, be divided, or money must be given to 
remote sections that they might take care of themselves so far 
as securing a teacher for a short time during the year was con- 
cerned. It will have been noticed in the account of the four 
towns given in this chapter that in every instance support by 
general taxation is accompanied by a resolution which does away 
with the fixed school. 

Nothing can bring out more clearly the connection between 
support by general taxation and the direct participation of the 
outer sections in the town school than the following chart. It 
will be noticed at the outset, 1691, that there is not the close 
relationship between such support and the rise of the curve 
indicating a general participation in school benefits as is shown 
some years later. Take, for example, the year 1696. The towns 
supporting their schools at this time by general taxation were 
Dorchester, Cambridge, Dedham, Newbury, Northampton, and 



School Support by General Taxation 81 

Plymouth. Dorchester, as we know, supported its school by 
rate from 165 1 — due no doubt to the influence of the law of '34 
which gave power to tax estates for public charges. The town 
school of Cambridge did not begin until 1692. Because there 
was no hampering effect of custom, and because of the general 
attitude of the Court and the size of the fine which might be 
levied if a school were not maintained, the inhabitants were prob- 
ably influenced to support the school by rate. The failure to main- 
tain a private school by tuition and sundry encouragements from 
the town was probably the cause of the town school. No satisfac- 
tory explanation of the change of method in Dedham offers 
itself. We know that concessions to the more remote inhabitants 
were made in 1685 which continued in force until '91. From 
'91 to '94 these concessions were withdrawn and during the latter 
year support by taxation was voted. Whether this was a benefit 
to those who had formerly gained by the concessions of '85 or 
not seems impossible to determine; the moving school did not 
come until 1717. In Newbury the principle in question was 
active in 1687-8 and 1691-4. But after '97 all mention of tuition 
ceases though the moving school did not appear until 1702. 
Northampton presents another problem for which there is no 
definite solution at hand. It was a frontier town and therefore 
the settlers were not scattered to any extent ; doubtless there was 
not much wealth and the major part of the inhabitants thought 
that support by general tax would bear less heavily on the com- 
munity hence such a method was enacted though, as the records 
show, there was considerable opposition. But, in the large, the 
general parallelism of the two curves point directly to the one 
conclusion — the last stage in the evolution of school support, 
i. e., general taxation and the abolition of tuition charges, was 
due to the necessity of maintaining a school and the desire to 
have a fair return in schooling for money spent in its support. 
This brings us to the last stage in the development of school 
support and also lays the foundation for our present system of 
free schools, that is, publicly controlled and publicly supported. 
The conditions which brought about the moving school estab- 
lished the free school and in the early history of the free school 
as a permanent institution, in the great majority of cases, it 
and the moving school were one. 



82 



School Support by General Taxation 



20 

15 
16 
14 
12 
10 



whole number of towns, 
.schools supported b\j taxation. 



__._—- moving and divided schools. 




6*1 



In the above chart the abscissas give the years and the ordinates the number of towns; 

The close connection between the voting of school support by general taxation is clearly 

of the period indicated by the chart. This is explained on the ground that such towns 



School Support by General Taxation 



83 




,S~ 



"fU — *tl — m — 15 — 13 — f2T '4o — $1 >ti "tfi — W^ 

the data which forms the basis for the representation is found in Chapter IV. 

shown, though there were towns which supported a fixed school by taxation at the close 

were founded after the idea of school support by taxation had become general. 



CHAPTER VI 
The " Free School " 

The term " free school " was in common use in England for 
many years previous to the emigration of the Puritans, and, 
according to Leach in his work on the " English School at the 
Reformation," this term, various interpretations to the contrary 
notwithstanding, always meant freedom from tuition charges. 
The early colonial interpretation of the term indicates a similar 
meaning though some of the colonial " free schools " were not 
free in our understanding of what is meant by a free school, 
that is, a school supported and controlled by the public as a 
whole. A school which was free from tuition charges under any 
form of support through contribution could not be on a perma- 
nent basis and could not fill the conditions as stated in our 
definition of the term. The origin of the modern free school 
comes with the final step in the development of school support 
through the voluntary and the compulsory contribution, the com- 
bination of tuition and general taxation, and the conditions which 
caused the moving, or the divided school, that is, the origin and 
continued existence of the free school depended upon the oppor- 
tunity for all to share in its benefits. 

In his discussion of the " free school " Leach says that " it 
has been alleged that Free School did not mean free or gratuitous 
but (i) a Grammar School, (2) free from ecclesiastical juris- 
diction, (3) giving a liberal education, (4) immediately dependent 
on the Crown, (5) free from the statute of mortmain. There 
may be other fanciful meanings devised to escape the obvious 
meaning. None of them can survive when confronted with the 
facts." He then shows at length that the term free school is 
applied not only to Grammar but to Song, and Writing Schools 
as well ; that it could not have meant freedom from ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction for in every case the license of the ordinary was a 
necessity until within the last century ; that it could not have 
meant that the Crown was the only authority for the statutes 
had to be approved by the Bishop and the master was almost 
invariably appointed by some person other than the Crown ; that 
it did not mean a liberal education for in the schools founded 



The Free School 85 

in Yorkshire the word for liberal education is used and it is not 
libera but liberalise that it did not mean free from the statute 
of mortmain for when such license was embodied it was a license 
to a limited amount only and the school was not freed from the 
statute generally. He concludes the discussion by saying, 

"it is impossible that it could have meant anything but what it was 
popularly supposed to mean — free from the payment of tuition fees. 
Entrance fees, and all sorts of luxuries such as fires, lights, candles, 
stationary, whippings might have been paid for but free school meant 
undoubtedly a school in which because of the endowment, all, or some 
of the scholars, the poor or the inhabitants of the place, or a certain 
number, were freed from fees for teaching." 3 

Such are the conclusions of one who has made the most com- 
plete study of this question, and this must, of course, be taken 
into consideration when the term is used in the various Massa- 
chusetts towns. Yet this obvious meaning either entirely escaped 
or was only partly sensed by those writers on early education 
in Massachusetts who have attempted to define the term. Bar- 
nard writes as follows : 

"The term was applied here, as well as in the early Acts of Virginia 
and other states, in the same sense, in which it was used in England, at 
the same and much earlier date, to characterize a Grammar School 
unrestricted as to a class of children or scholars specified in the instru- 
ments by which it was founded, and so supported as not to depend on 
the fluctuating attendance and tuition of scholars for the maintenance 
of the master." 4 

In an article on the first common schools of New England, 
Bush says, 

"A free school — that is, a school for gratuitous instruction of poor 
children (as in this sense only were the early schools in this country free) 
can be traced back to the early ages of the Christian church." 5 

Brown, in his work on the Middle Schools, in speaking of 
Leach's study says : 

"This is a clear and carefully guarded statement and seems to be 
borne out by the documentary evidence presented. It should be remem- 
bered, however, that in our colonial period, a'freeschool'was generally 
one in which school fees of one sort or another were regularly paid by 



3 Leach, English Schools at the Reformation, 110-114. 

4 Am. Journal of Ed., Vol. I., 300. 

5 Report of Com. of Ed., '96 and '97, Vol. II., 1168. 



86 The Free School 

all but the poorest pupils; and was, moreover, a school of secondary 
grade, that is, a Latin grammar school." 6 

Bearing these conflicting interpretations in mind, let us ex- 
amine the various instances in the town records where this term 
is used. Of the fourteen towns in whose records I find the 
term " free school " mentioned, twelve fall readily into one or 
the other of two classes, (i) the term used in connection with 
town action providing for the support of the master other than 
by tuition, and (2) the term used for the first time when 
change was made from support of the master by tuition and 
rate to support by general taxation. 

Four towns fall in the first class. Boston in 1636, or at least 
the richer inhabitants, gave " toward the maintenance of a free 
schoolmaster for the youth with us " an amount a trifle over 40 
pounds. Nowhere is there any information which would lead 
one to believe that tuition was charged. In 1682 the town took 
the following action, 

"The same day it was voted by ye inhabitants yt the same Comittee 
with ye Select men consider of & pvide one or more Free Schooles for 
the teachings of Children to write & Cypher within this towne." 7 

In 1686 we find the following record: 

"And the standing charge of this town at this time is about 400 pounds 
ann — aboue 200 pounds of which is in maintaininge three Free Schooles, 
mending the highways in Bostone, Rumny Marsh, & Mudie River." 8 

The inhabitants of Dedham in 1644 

"did with vnanimous consent declare by voate their willingness to 
promote that worke promising to put too their hands to prouide main- 
tainance for a Free Schoole in our said Towne 

"And farther did resolute & consent testefyinge it by voate to rayse 
the some of Twenty pounds p annu : towards the maintaining of a schoole 
mr to keep a free Schoole in our said Towne." 

It is difficult to determine whether this first school in Dedham 
was a Grammar School or not. Martin states that the " Dedham 
school furnished elementary instruction in English, writing, and 
the art of arithmetic " 9 but he does not give his authority for 
the statement. This would, of course, put the school out of 



6 Brown, The Making of Our Middle Schools, 32. 

7 Report of the Boston Rec. Com., Vol. XIV, 158. 

8 Ibid., 187. 

"Martin: Evolution of the Mass. Public School System, 51. 



The Free School 87 

secondary rank. Since there is no reference made in the records 
to the curriculum of the school until 1653, when the master " un- 
dertakes to teach to read English and the Accidence & to write 
& the knowledge & art of Arithmetick & the rules & practice 
thereof," one may infer something from the preceding teacher. 
Slafter states that the teacher for the first seven years was 
Ralph Wheelock, educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge University 
and took his degrees in 1626, and 1631. 10 With a teacher of 
such calibre it seems more than probable that the school was of 
secondary rank. 

In the Dorchester Records for 1642 we find the following: 

"It is hereby ordered and all the present Inhabitants of Dorchester 
aforsayd Whose named are heervnto subscribed" bequeathed and gave 
away their right and interest in Tomsons Island" for and Towards the 
maintenance of a free schoole in Dorchester aforsaid for the instructinge 
and Teching of Children and youth in good literature and Learninge." 11 

Again in 1655 we find the term used in the contract between 
the teacher and the selectmen : 

"First that Icabod with the consent of his father shall from the : 7 : of 
March next ensueinge vnto the end of three full years from thence to be 
compleate and ended Instruct and teach in a free Schoole in Dorchester 
all such Children as by the Inhabitants shall be committed to his Care in 

Ennglish Latin and Greek and also in writinge as hee shall be 

able." 12 

Then follows the clause in which the selectmen agree to pay 
the master to the amount of twenty-five pounds. 
Roxbury in 1645 enacted as follows : 

"Whereas, the Inhabitants of Roxbury, in consideration of their 
relligeous care of posteretie, have taken into consideration how necessarie 
the education of thiere children in Literature will be to fitt them for 
public service, both in Churche and Commonwealthe, in succedinge ages, 
They therefore unanimously have consentd and agreed to erect a free 
schoole in the said Towne of Roxburie, and to allow Twenty pounds 
per annum to the Schoolemaster, to bee raised out of the Messuages 
and part of the lands of the severall donors. 

" always provided that none of the Inhabitantes of the said 

Towne of Roxburie that shall not joyne in this act with the rest of the 
Donors shall have any further benefit thereby than other strangers shall 
have who are no Inhabitantes." 13 

10 Slafter: The Schools and Teachers of Dedham, Mass., 8, 11. 

11 Dorchester Records, 104-5. 

12 Ibid., 73-4. 

13 Dillaway: Hist, of the Gr. School in Roxbury, 7-9, 30. 



88 The Free School 

At the close of the contract made between the feofees and the 
master in 1668 follow the names of fifty-four persons whose 
children have right to the school and in a fourth column headed 
" gratis " are the names of four others indicating, of course, 
that the children of those families were to be taught free of 
charge. 

In the second general division mentioned at the beginning of 
the chapter we have the following towns. 

In the records for Charlestown for 1671 we find that the 
master was paid 30 pounds by the town and 20 shillings by each 
pupil. He taught them to read, write, cipher, and prepared such 
as wished for college. 14 Eight years later the following action 
was taken: 

"It was put to vote to the Inhabitants of the town whether they would 
make a free school in this town by allowing fifty pounds per annum in 
or as money and a convenient house for the school master who is to 
teach Latin, writing, cyphering and to perfect children in reading En- 
glish." 15 

Duxbury in 1741, when the change was made to a moving 
school, voted that while the schoolmaster kept school in the 
various quarters " that the school shall be a free school for the 
whole town, for any of the said inhabitants to send their children 
into any of the above-mentioned quarters where the school may 
be kept." 16 

In 1701 Maiden under the proddings of the Court changed 
from the plan of encouraging a private school to a town school. 
The following excerpt from the recorded action is of interest 
to us: 

"And he is to have ten pounds paid him by the town for his pains. 
The school js to be free for all ye Inhabitants of ye town "" 

Newbury in a similar change from private to town school 
enacted as follows: 

"there was ordered and voted that the towne should by an equal 
proportion according to mens estates by way of rates pay foure and 
twenty pounds by the yeare to maintain a free school to be kept at the 
meeting house " 

14 Frothingham: Hist, of Charlestown, 177. 

15 Ibid., 184. 

18 Duxbury Rec, 270. 

17 Corey: History of Maiden, 602. 



The Free School 89 

The town of Northampton in 1693 changed the method of 
paying the master, and took upon itself the entire responsibility 
by voting 

"to give forty pounds per year for A Schoole Master that might be 
attained fit for the worke and the aboue said sum of forty pounds they 
Agree to pay for one yeare And the Scholers to go free." 18 

Watertown voted in 1667 to support the master by general tax 
and " the town agreed that the Schoole should be Free to all 
the settled Inhabitanc : Children that thir friends Hue in other 
towns to pay as before :" 

Outside of these main divisions but bearing on the topic are 
the acts of two towns and a bequest made to the town of Salem. 
Ipswich in 1643 made provision for the education of seven free 
scholars but the school was not called a " free school " when 
this action was taken. 19 

Plymouth in determining the method of support and amount 
of tuition to charge for the various subjects in the curriculum 
excepted " the children of such as through poverty are rendered 
oncapable of pay." At no time was the school in Plymouth 
called a " free school." 

In 1724, " Samuel Brown grants unto the Grammar school, 
in Salem, 120 pounds passable money to make the same a free 
school, or toward the educating of eight or ten poor scholars 
yearly." 

Mr. Brown also made a bequest to the English school so that 
the income might be applied " toward making the same a free 
school or for learning six poor scholars." 20 

This completes the available data — let us see how well the 
definitions of the term previously quoted are borne out by the 
records. Mr. Barnard it will be recalled defined the " free 
school " as a Grammar School, endowed, unrestricted as to social 
class, and not dependent upon tuition. 

But it is clear that the term was not restricted to Grammar 
Schools for in Boston writing schools were called " free schools ;" 
in Salem the English school is called a " free school " in the 
bequest ; and the " free schools " of Duxbury and Maiden were 
elementary and not secondary schools. 

18 Trumbull: History of Northampton, Vol. I., 426. 

19 Waters: Ipswich in the Mass. Bay Colony, 146. 

20 Felt: Annals of Salem, Vol. I., 445. 



go The Free School 

The wording " specified in the instruments by which it was 
founded " indicates that an endowed school was meant for the 
ordinary church-town or town school had no instruments of 
foundation other than a town vote. Of all the schools men- 
tioned but three were endowed at the dates given — Roxbury, 
Salem, and Dorchester. In 1648 Tomson's Island was taken 
from the town of Dorchester by the Court and yet we find the 
term used in '55. Roxbury, the best example of an endowed 
school, was a " free school " because of its endowment but it 
was not unrestricted as to class of children attending. School 
privileges were confined, in fact, to the children of subscribers 
and such poor children as the subscribers saw fit to admit. 

Under the general educational conditions of the colony to have 
designated a school as a " free school " merely to indicate that it 
was open to all classes would have been a highly useless distinction. 
With the exception of the Roxbury Grammar School all the 
schools mentioned were town schools and controlled by the town 
directly or through the town's representatives, the selectmen, or 
through feofees elected by the town for the first few years of 
the school history as in Dorchester and in Dedham. The select- 
men directly, and therefore the town indirectly, were held re- 
sponsible for the education of all the children in the town by 
the Act of 1642; the Act of 1647 made the school compulsory. 
Under these conditions how could there have been any class 
distinctions with respect to schools which would have made the 
term " free school " of any meaning? Compulsory education and 
compulsory schools make such a reference totally beside the 
mark. And finally, the definition of a " free school " as given 
and the statement that this was the English meaning of the term 
is not upheld by Leach. 

The definition given by Bush — a school which gave gratuitous 
instruction to poor children — has little or no support from the 
records. Plymouth and Ipswich gave such free instruction but 
the school was not called a " free school." In Brown's bequest 
to Salem he hopes to make a " free school " or, failing in that, 
to educate a number of poor children in which case we are to 
infer it would not be a " free school." 

Neither does there seem sufficient basis for Brown's interpre- 
tation of the term. We find in all but two of the towns which 
established " free schools " that the amount of maintenance pro- 



The Free School 91 

vided was equal to the salary of the master. This precludes the 
charging of fees, and no mention is made of poor children. The 
two towns mentioned are Boston and Dorchester ; in the former 
the amount of contributions was but 10 pounds less than the 
master was receiving fourteen years afterwards, hence it seems 
probable that the master's salary was provided for without any 
supplement from tuition charges; and in Dorchester the intent, 
at least, was to make the rent of the Island cover the costs of 
the school. No mention is made of tuition charges in the lengthy 
and detailed school code and from the general disposition of 
the town towards school affairs which has already been stated 
at length it seems highly probable that tuition fees were not 
charged. That the " free school " was not always a Latin gram- 
mar school has been previously shown. 

Other meanings than those given may be imagined but they as 
well as those given suffer the disadvantage of taking a decidedly 
less for the more obvious use of the term. On the basis of the 
records themselves we may assert that the primary meaning of 
the term " free school " as used in Massachusetts meant freedom 
from charge for being taught, and, as a corollary, schools were 
unrestricted as to whom should be taught except in Roxbury 
and in the case of non-residents. We have seen, too, from the 
records quoted in Chapter IV. that the free school except it 
was governed by the conditions imposed by the present concep- 
tion of the term was not long in existence. The conditions which 
were fundamental to its permanency have already been stated in 
the conclusions of the preceding chapter. 

In conclusion: We have shown that the support of the poor, 
and the support of the church before it reached the final stage 
of development — general taxation — passed through the prelimin- 
ary stages of the voluntary and the compulsory contribution; 
we have shown the close connection between the school and the 
church; we have presented all that the records have to offer 
on the question of school support during the early period, and 
taking all the facts which bear directly and indirectly on the ques- 
tion, though not absolutely demonstrated it must be admitted 
that these facts point to the conclusion that town schools previous 
to 1647 were maintained by voluntary and by compulsory con- 
tributions. 



92 The Free School 

We have shown that the law of 1642 made elementary edu- 
cation compulsory and — for the poor — made it free as well; 
that the cost of the education of such children was borne by 
the community. To what extent such free education of a few 
children in a community was influential in determining that all 
children be schooled at public expense cannot be definitely 
known, but with a growing spirit of democracy and its tendency 
to wipe out class distinctions it seems probable that this pro- 
vision was a factor in the general line of experience which 
resulted in school support by general taxation. 

And lastly, the records of the four towns, as examples, show 
that the method of tuition and supply or rate and tuition was 
not a method that would maintain a permanent school and 
avoid a fine which at the time seemed to be one of the highest 
educational motives. These records and the chart which follows 
show the closest of relationships between the maintenance of a 
school and the opportunity afforded all children to attend with 
least amount of inconvenience, and this maintenance was granted 
in the great majority of cases only on condition of equality of 
opportunity. This gave permanent basis for the free school — 
publicly controlled and publicly supported though the " free 
school " had existed for a time much earlier but on a different 
basis of support. 



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»* V : P 



